


Fates Arranged

by JD_Riley



Series: Victorian A/B/O [13]
Category: Original Work
Genre: A Tale of Two Virgins, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Blow Jobs, Demisexual Alpha, Demisexuality, Developing Relationship, Dubious Consent, England (Country), Erectile Dysfunction, Forced Marriage, Historical, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Infidelity, Intercrural Sex, Knotting, Lactation Kink, M/M, Male Lactation, MaleAlpha, MaleOmega, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Mpreg, Omega Verse, Omegaverse, Painful Sex, Smut, Victorian, marital rape
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-28
Updated: 2020-05-07
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:55:53
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 22
Words: 74,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23361319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JD_Riley/pseuds/JD_Riley
Summary: Caught unexpectedly in the middle of an arranged marriage, Jasper Wrightmore has had just about enough. It was supposed to be his sister, Nora, who married the serious and brooding Warren Oakley--a man whose family pressed him as a matter of course toward climbing the social ladder through bondship. Unable to find a shred of commonality with his new mate, he throws himself into the companionship of others and seeks to avoid him at every turn; but the Omega cannot escape the small brushes with fate which lead him toward a soft and enduring secret love for his husband even as Jasper finds himself in bed with another man.
Relationships: Benjamin Knightwick/Jasper Wrightmore, Warren Oakley/Jasper Wrightmore
Series: Victorian A/B/O [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/695802
Comments: 352
Kudos: 330





	1. Chapter 1

This was unexpected.

It wasn’t that the whole thing was unexpected. It was only that Jasper’s _role_ in the matter was unexpected. It had been long determined that it was this generation of Oakleys and Wrightmores that would join the two families, but it had also been long expected it would be his sister Nora who would do the joining. After all, she was very accommodating to the notion--that was, she _had been_ before she had presented as an Alpha. She and the eldest Alpha of the Oakley family had long been acquainted and were of similar age which made them the obvious choice for a couple--save that pesky little nuisance of his sister’s presentation. The family had thought perhaps that one of the younger Oakleys would do to marry Nora should they present as Omegas but so far, none had and it was Jasper who had ended up coming down with the fever.

 _That_ was unexpected. He was tall for an Omega and he had long thought that his height was a deciding factor in how he might present--or, in his mind, _not_ present. Males usually presented later on in life and females earlier. Whatever it was that precipitated the opposite in his family, he hated very much. Especially since he had no interest at all in this arrangement and had met his betrothed perhaps only three times and very briefly besides. That he was now expected to marry him and give up everything he had thought was in his future--well...that had left a very bitter taste in his mouth.

It wasn’t as though he disliked Warren Oakley. He simply had no interest in him. He was tall, broad-shouldered, and supposedly handsome. Jasper didn’t really remember what he looked like and it didn’t matter anyway. All he had to do was tolerate him. There was plenty to take care of as an Omega spouse and as long as the marriage contract held that Jasper was not to be treated poorly and was to be allowed a decent allowance, he didn’t much give a damn about who his husband was. He could find things to occupy him aside from carrying pups, he thought, though there was more than a little apprehension at _that_ notion.

His valet, Norman, was just about finished with tying his cravat when he finally looked Jasper in the eyes after having studiously avoided it for the whole morning. “It’s going to be alright,” he said in his very mild tone. “You’re only seventeen. It wasn’t as though you already had a career and a wife or something. Some poor souls find out far too late.”

“Yes, so I hear.”

It seemed as though Norman was going to say something else but was cut off by the door opening wide and revealing his sister wearing at least a decent get-up of male clothes. She had decided to embrace her new Alpha status as best she could, though she had not yet decided she was going to cut her hair. She was, on the whole, rather attached to her hair.

“Well aren’t you a vision!” she told him, her voice containing an edge to it he couldn’t stand. She had always been bossy and presumptuous and overall _irritating_ and so it had come to Jasper as no surprise at all when she had presented as an Alpha. Everyone else was shocked. Jasper had no hard time imagining it at all. He had less patience for her now than ever, of course, especially when she shooed Norman off to the side in order to lay over his head a crown of white roses.

“Roses?” he asked. “That’s a little much, sister. I am no Duke and nor do I marry one. I think carnations would have done better. Or perhaps gardenias. Even better, probably daisies.”

“Daisies?!” she boomed, causing he and Norman to wince. “White roses are the least I could do for you, Jasper. You’re my only little brother, after all, and this is the only time I will be able to dote upon you so. I also dearly love Warren and I...well I want this day to be special for you. After all, you’re going to like him. I know you will because I do!”

“Oh yes,” he provided sardonically, looking to the glass to peer at the white crown about his head. “And as we all know, the tastes of you and of I have always matched perfectly.”

“Oh don’t be like that. He’s a very lovely Alpha and I would have been rather happy to marry him. I’m...well I’m actually...” Her expression faltered and her brows came together while her shoulders drooped.

Jasper felt nearly moved by her scent which had become distinct in its melancholy but it was his future here changing the most and so he could not make enough room beside his bitterness to accommodate sympathy. “Yes, of course. You and Warren Oakley...destined to be. Unfortunate that fate had hidden plans. I would have preferred it to go your way. I’m not pleased.”

“He’s very kind, Jasper.”

“I’m sure he is. I hope he is. For my sake. Really...Nora...can we do without the roses? There are dozen different flowers that can mean innocence and purity without making me appear to be an unseemly, pretentious man.”

Norman spoke then, his voice soft. “We do not have the time, Omega.”

“Don’t call me that. I find it distasteful.”

“I apologize, sir.”

He sighed noisily and pulled the flowers from his head and tossed them upon his vanity. “No crown then. No laurel. Nothing.”

His sister put out her hand. “That is not customary. It is important for--”

“It is not. Does he have to wear one? Would I have had to wear one should I have married a girl? No. I do not think myself willing to entertain these ridiculous notions. If he wants to marry me, he can marry me _without_ roses.” He moved to the door and pulled it open savagely, pulling it closed hard enough that it slammed. There were no tears. He came to his place next to his father just inside the door to the garden where all the guests were sitting and where the vicar waited with the groom. Norman had been right. There was no time. There were only moments to go before he was supposed to walk down the little red carpet over the stone walkway to be delivered like some kind of holy parcel to his future mate. A coldness swept into him.

“It’s good of you to join us, Jasper,” his father smiled. The man was less likely to entertain Jasper’s moodiness and yet he was the most likely not to snap should his attitude shift unfavorably. “I was half of the mind that you might make poor Oakley wait for you. That would be very much your character, wouldn’t it?”

“If you say so, father.”

“Nora said she was delivering your laurel…”

“Roses, father.”

“Hmm...she always did have a flair for the dramatic.” He reached into the pocket of his jacket and produced a very thin silver laurel with only three small leaves on either end to frame his head. “Perhaps you’ll accept mine, instead.” He held it out, his eyes warm.

“I told them I would not be wed with one.”

“Tell me, then.”

The coldness in his blood nearly froze in that instant. But, as his father knew he would, he allowed for the small silver thing to be placed upon his head, fitting perfectly so as to complete his ensemble. Then, as solid as he could be, he allowed for his arm to be taken and for himself to be led forward down the aisle. He felt as though he were walking to his own pyre but could feel nothing for the end. He could not see it. He could not imagine truly the vastness of the change that was about to happen to him. His personal kingdom was falling about his ears and there was a bleak fogginess to his imagination when it came to how his life was to move forward. Even how his night was going to end.

He stood in front of Warren Oakley and chanced a look up at him before he pulled his eyes down. He shouldn’t have looked for he thought he saw the same sort of placid apathy that he felt staring back down at him. He shouldn’t have been surprised. It was expected of them. It was duty. It was for their families and for their honor and it was simply something one had to do. He should not have expected anything more and he couldn’t understand what it was that he had hoped for. Compassion? Cheerfulness? Joy? He wondered when he was going to first see his husband smile.

He supposed he wouldn’t have to worry about it, seeming as he had to practically crane his neck to see him. Jasper was the size of the average Beta, perhaps a little on the slight side, but it ran in families of his ilk, he thought. Even Nora was a bit thin. But this man, Warren, was rather large though perfectly proportional and well-bred for having been of the wealthy merchant class. Looking at him was the least of his problems for today, Jasper thought, deciding to focus his attention on the man’s pocket square, contemplating the manner in which it was folded. He wondered if he’d done it himself or if he’d had his valet do it.

_Does he have a valet? Oh, silly me, his family’s probably got more money than ours...of course he must have a valet. Or perhaps they’re of the sort not to spend money on things like personal luxury. Oh dear, I do hope I get to keep Norman._

“And do you, Jasper Wrightmore, take this Alpha to be your lawfully wedded husband…”

 _Oh right._ This was the moment he was supposed to pay attention to. He refocused his attention on the vicar and when it was time for him to say his piece, he did so plainly and tried not to sound too put out about it. He hoped he managed it alright. When he was finished with that, he spent some more time contemplating his new mate’s pocket square and lost track of time before he heard the man tell them that it was time for them to kiss.

He nearly sighed, stopping himself at the last moment as his brows were fully raised. When he looked up again, he found that Warren was regarding him with a cool expression, one motivated simply by that which Jasper had thought he’d made his peace. Duty. A kiss was not something either of them wanted from each other. But it was a promise. A symbolic promise.

His father would never let him get away with not doing it and so he allowed for Warren to lean down and accepted the soft press of his lips to the side of his, feeling only a bit awkward as he had been expecting the man to at least kiss him properly. If this was all the passion he could arouse in his new mate, he supposed he was in for a dismal night.

 _Whatever. I only have to consummate and then heat instincts will take care of the rest._

He tried to avoid the rice that was tossed up and passed his father a steely glance as his arm was taken yet again and he was led back down the aisle to the end where he would greet all the visitors alongside his husband. Of course, he could skip that part.

He licked his lips and cast a glance back up to Warren. With a resigned little sigh, he decided to lie. “Alpha?”

Warren slightly turned his head and peered down at him, his face unreadable.

“I’m feeling a little warm.”

A flicker of something came over the man’s features and his lips trembled before he spoke, his voice soft and quiet and uncharacteristic for an Alpha and especially an Alpha of his size. “There is a room. Upstairs. It is already prepared. I had not expected...so quickly…” He shook his head ever so slightly, seemingly at a loss.

Jasper felt almost sorry for him. “Do not hurry on my account. I’ve no rush.” That was true. He certainly felt no keen want to be stripped of his chastity though he supposed that was what his next _duty_ was. He’d long thought that he would learn what it meant to be a man by kissing a girl or his own Omega. Developing a soft and mild sort of love which could be counted upon and ruled as both steady and sweet. Now, he felt every bit the Omega he was. Fickle and unruly. Unrepentant and strange. His whole future had been lost to him and he was supposed to welcome a man between his legs as though he had never had another thought to what he was meant to be.

He went with one of the staff upstairs to the room that had been made up for them and he found a maid smoothing wrinkles out of the counterpane when he entered.

“Oh. Greetings.” She gave him a little curtsy. “I’m Ollie. Mr. Oakley’s told me I’m to be your maid.”

“My maid,” he repeated flatly. “Oh no. I do not think so. I already have a valet. His name is Norman and I would like to keep him. You can go tell him that and send him up.”

“Oh…”

“My apologies, Miss. It is only that...I am not going to have a woman undress me. That ship seems to have sailed, if you don’t mind my saying.” He passed her a little grin and was placated when she smirked at it.

He was alone for a little while and removed his cravat, strolling about the room and snooping into drawers for the fun of it. There was everything one would need for their toilet in the mornings and there was even a screen for privacy during changing or baths. The closet was filled with comfortable clothes though nothing serviceable to present oneself to the outside world. Really only things that one lounges in.

“Hmm,” he mused softly. “They really do prepare for a heat.”

“Yes, they do,” Norman replied from the doorway. “And it was very naughty of you to tell your Alpha that you were feeling hot.”

“I said ‘warm.’ I was feeling a little _warm_.”

“That was not nice. He’ll be coming up here expecting you to have a nest made and your mind clouded and here you are at the very least two days away from a heat and lying already.”

“Oh, don’t be such a bore, Norman. I’m not two days out...I think I’m one...maybe. It’s not very predictable yet.”

The Beta set down his ewer of water on the vanity and then turned to him. “You’re going to have a difficult marriage. The first thing you say to him is a lie. You should be cautious, sir. Your situation can be made more difficult than it is.”

“He cannot treat me poorly.”

“And you cannot treat him poorly.”

Jasper grumbled to himself, taking impatient steps toward the mirror where he looked at himself and found his eyes staring back with fear behind them. “Norman...I just want it over with. I don’t want to have to think about it anymore.”

“Your marriage is for the rest of your life, sir, whether you like it or not.”

“And this is just one night.”

“One night that will begin all the nights hereafter. I will plead you, boy, tread lightly. I know very little of Warren Oakley but I know much of his father. If he should take any or all of his traits, your actions may very well leave you a very sorry boy indeed.”

“He cannot treat me poorly.”

“There are many things a man can do to you that lie outside the bounds of kindness and within the bounds of your contract. Heed me, sir. You are in no way safe from harm for having it.”

Fear truly gripped him then and he could feel his heart constricting. His scent was odd and disjointed, souring with the air of the room. A lump formed in his throat and he turned to Norman, trembling. “Norman...I don’t want to be here. I don’t want to be here. I don’t want...I never wanted…”

“Shhhh…” The Beta came to him and put out his arms and took him into them, his hand resting very gently on the back of his neck. “You’re alright. Everything is going to be alright. You just have to be smart. I know you’re smart. You’re smarter than every boy at Eton and you made well sure that they knew it. You’ve read every book in our library. You speak four languages. You’ve got a mind that could work out every problem you’ve ever faced. Steel yourself, sir. You are stronger than you feel. Duty, sir. It is only a marriage. You can work within it. But you cannot do that in disregard of your mate. He will dictate what you wear, where you live, and what you do. But he cannot dictate who you are.” He gave a great sigh and then moved his hands to Jasper’s shoulders, drawing him away to look at him. “Now...make your nest.”

“But I’m not…”

“You are close enough, are you not?”

He sniffed, wiping away his tears and trying to conjure back that familiar coolness inside him when he nodded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mind the tags.
> 
> Please. Wash your hands. Don't touch your face. Leave a comment.


	2. Chapter 2

Warren was standing off to the side near a wide column, overlooking the marble promenade where guests meandered and grouped together in order to chat with each other and mingle as much as they were willing. Oakley wasn’t a very noble name and there were some in the extensions of the Wrightmore family who thought the arrangement dubious. Of course, there were no Oakleys who thought so. His father was very happy about it indeed, strutting about with a little smile on his face as though he had finally found exactly what he was looking for his whole life. _An excuse to rub elbows with nobles._

Warren hadn’t given it much thought through the years. He’d grown up thinking that it was going to be a natural thing. Of course he had! Nora was a beautiful girl and she’d always been that way. She’d been a _little_ tall, he supposed, but not overly so and certainly not very much taller than her younger brother. She was still so beautiful, he thought, his body letting loose an inadvertent sigh as a dull throb pulsed near his heart. This was just all so...

_Unexpected._

He swallowed thickly and then took a swig of the champagne in his hand.

There were too many people here who’d thought he’d won some kind of prize. Who thought it was very fortuitous that he should snag by mere providence one of the more sought after dynamics of the ton. As though a male Omega was something everyone wanted.

_Forgive them, Warren, for they cannot know the depth of your heart. It is natural that we all must contend with the small tragedies of our lives. This can be dealt with. This can be withstood. You’ve weathered worse, Alpha. Perhaps he will become fond of you...and you him. There is always room for hope._

He avoided most conversation, feeling less and less like talking as time wore on. He was nearly to the point where he was to hide in a nearby library when his father cornered him, his very low and edged voice settling into him like a blade to his throat. It was such a common sensation that it nearly felt comforting despite its ominous nature. 

“I should have thought you’d be upstairs by now. Did the boy not mention that he felt a bit warm only an hour ago?”

He nodded lightly, looking just past his father’s shoulder. The older Alpha had never been one to take kindly to eye contact, finding it to be a challenge he would not abide. “Heats do take some time to settle in. I should hardly think myself polite should I follow him with my nose at his heels, waiting for my moment. I could not sense it yet. He must still be very early.”

“Is that it?”

“What else?” he asked, feeling a flutter of nervousness in his gut. He always felt that little flutter when he wasn’t sure what his father was getting at.

“Could it be that you’ve some misgivings?”

“I’ve had misgivings. They are hardly worth mentioning.”

“Good. Perhaps you go up to your room and you see about your little mate? He’ll be expecting you, I’m sure. The other guests are wondering what you’re still doing down here.”

“He told me not to rush.”

His father’s scent gained a sharpness that was unmistakable. “He was being polite.”

“Excuse me, then. I think I’ll make my goodnights.” He conspicuously made his rounds so that his father might see him bow to the correct people and make certain that no one thought him rude as we went. When, finally, he had bade everyone necessary goodnight, he came last to his mother and kissed the backs of her fingers and when her eyes met his, he whispered to her very softly so that only she could hear.

“ _I’ll be alright, mother. I promise._ ”

He had made that promise many times throughout his life and he did not intend on ever breaking it. He might have been quiet but there was an Alpha inside him nevertheless. Jasper Wrightmore would have to do. That was all there was to it. He’d long ago cast off the thought that if things didn’t go well in his marriage, he would take to the bed of a mistress. He could hardly stand to think of himself stooping so low as to be unfaithful--especially when it would disappoint Nora so. She had spoken so highly of her brother...he couldn’t begin to think of letting her down.

He climbed the stairs as though he were on his way to his gallows, taking them one at a time and making certain to take them as slow as possible. There were no illusions in his heart that this was going to be easy. The boy had hardly the interest in him enough during the wedding to look at him more than once and seemed very much more interested in the small kerchief that had stuck up artfully from his pocket. Although, he had to admit, that was the element of him that was probably easiest to see for a boy of average height next to a man like Warren. The only solace he had was in knowing that at least his heat would provide them both with what little pleasure they could gain from each other for a time.

Warren hoped--though he would not hold his breath--that there could be more for the both of them. Perhaps something that would draw them closer, though he could not imagine what it was. Fondness might be too much to ask his heart to make and he might have to settle for the love he could hold for his children--surely that would draw them closer together.

He paused just outside the door and contemplated it for a few moments, drawing in a sharp breath through his nose as though it could sober him up a little. It didn’t. He wasn’t certain whether or not he should knock. It was their room together but he did not wish to intrude all of a sudden as though he had no thought to the Omega’s privacy.

_Privacy? You’re about to have him naked with you. What sort of privacy is that? And he’s got no choice in the matter either. Nor do you._

Still, he knocked. There was a small pause before the door was opened by a Beta servant he’d seen with the Wrightmores.

“Mr. Oakley, good evening.” He pulled the door opened wide to allow him to enter and when he had, the man moved to leave.

“Wait…” Warren told him quietly, putting out his hand to keep the door from closing. “Where is the maid?”

“Your mate has requested that I remain with him as I have been his valet for a number of years. He does not prefer women as his personal servants.”

“You’re a Beta.”

“I am. If I may, Mr. Oakley, I have been informed that you yourself keep no valet and I would be happy to extend my services to you as well.”

Warren stared at him, finding him to be clear-eyed and attentive, a man who seemed capable and efficient, at the very least. “I have not heard of an Omega keeping a Beta valet.”

“There are some who do--Lord Netherfield comes to mind. I seem to remember a Mr. Perkins having been under the stairs at Netherfield. Though that does not concern you, I suppose. I am at your will, sir. Should you not wish for my service, I will go.” His eyes, still clear, were pleading, the smallest movements of his facial muscles revealing the desperation he felt to remain with his small master. Familiarity. A valet was, in many ways, much like family.

Warren studied him, taking everything in for a few moments before he replied. “I will think on it. Thank you. You may go.” When the door was shut, he still faced it, loosening and then removing his cravat. It felt good to be rid of the thing and he could smell himself, deep and woody. But what he couldn’t smell--that was more interesting. He couldn’t smell _heat._ Contemplating that for a moment, he turned about, finding Jasper sitting up on one side of the bed which had been made up in a simple nest. A book was in his hands but his eyes were arrested on Warren, the whole of his form stiff with tension. It was sweet in the room, tempered a bit by the mildness left over from the Beta. Warren rubbed at his face before he blinked slowly. “Do you still feel feverish, little one?”

“No…” he replied immediately, “I think...perhaps it was merely my nerves. I apologize.”

Warren nodded a bit, his heart squeezing in his chest. He could see how tightly the boy was holding the book and he could smell the sourness in his scent despite the coolness of his expression. He was a brave Omega.

“I…” Jasper tried, licking his lips with his nervousness. “I know that...things are expected...it would have been v-very convenient to have been so close. I suppose it must have been my optimism. Perhaps. I...I don’t know. I’m sorry.”

Warren merely nodded again, taking a few steps toward the side of the bed which was unoccupied before he began to unbutton his waistcoat. He tried not to watch Jasper watching him as he undressed and when he was down to his underthings, he tried not to let his misgivings cloud his mind. The carpet was soft under his feet, the fire had made it quite warm in the room, and the scent of Omega was sweet in his nose. He shed everything, stripping down to nothing before he pulled at the bedclothes, consciously refusing to seek out Jasper’s gaze. He knew from just the side of his vision that the boy was looking anywhere _except_ at him.

_Well enough._

Jasper was schooling himself, burying everything--at least trying to. He couldn’t bury it all. He was very slightly trembling when Warren turned down the lamp at his bedside. The Omega’s voice sounded too loud in the dim room. “Are we...um…”

Warren reached toward him and plucked the book from his hands, tossing it to the floor where it hit with a soft little thunk. With steady hands, he turned down the counterpane and the sheets from Jasper’s body and pulled at the sash of his dressing gown, pleased to find that the valet had at least given him good advice to forgo his nightclothes. In the dim, warm light he was lithe and slightly muscled and he had instinctively turned his head to the side, baring his pale throat. He was less pretty than he was handsome though he seemed to exist somewhere in the inbetween of the two, a duality that was admired in most male Omegas and especially those with even the smallest amount of noble blood. Men like Jasper Wrightmore were coveted creatures and men like Warren Oakley would do well to consummate their joining on their wedding night.

He pulled at the boy to bring him to lay, the dressing gown rucking up beneath him while apprehension poured into his scent and his eyes locked on some faraway point toward the wall. Perhaps part of the design on the wallpaper or a spider who had chanced a stroll into the bedroom. The Alpha looked at him. He smelled him. He wanted to do right by him.

Reaching between his own legs, Warren tugged at himself, sliding his length between his fore and middle fingers as he usually did when he pleasured himself. He hovered over the Omega, sweeping down close to him and gently pressing the side of his mouth against the boy’s throat, sipping in small breaths of his undiluted scent.

It was a fractured bit of something. _Warm bathwater. Rain._ He couldn’t put his finger on it and it only flashed the slightest of memories. It sparkled, certainly, but flickering only like lamplight over London cobblestone. He could hardly glimpse anything within it.

He stroked himself liberally, nuzzling against Jasper’s neck but never touching him otherwise, frowning at himself as he pressed his forehead into the pillows beside the boy’s ear. Jasper Wrightmore simply _had to do_ , he told himself, scolding in his own mind. It was never like this. He’d never experienced this before. Then again, there had never been someone _with_ him when he did this. Still. This was...

_Unexpected._

He tried for a minute or so more before he huffed a frustrated breath and rolled away from Jasper suddenly, sitting at the edge of his own side of the bed and staring down in the warm firelight. He couldn’t. It just...wouldn’t happen. He took in a long breath and sensed that perhaps the boy might say something to him and couldn’t bear the thought of what that thing might be. He stood and reached for his trousers, pulling them on roughly before he grabbed at his shirt and left, pulling it on as he walked briskly down the hall.

The back stairwell was desolate and so he thundered down it, growing ever more frustrated as he went until he was practically stomping into the small library which was still warm and lit by the glow of a fading fire. He closed the door behind him, leaning upon it until he could put his forehead in his hand and then his eyes.

_God. Why? Why play this cruel trick upon me?!_

Warren took in a heavy breath and in that instant, felt every tension in his body release.

_Nora._

He dropped his hand from his eyes and moved further into the room, finding her curled in one of the wing-backed chairs near the hearth, a most-empty bottle of claret in her lap. Her cheeks were wet and her eyes were tired and long wisps of her hair fell from its pins. When her eyes found him, she weakly brandished the bottle and sniffled as she grinned.

“Warren...well...hello.”

“Nora. What are you doing here? Have you drank all of that?”

She looked down at it, licking her lips in the same manner that her brother did. Her scent was melancholy and dampened like the smell of a thick forest on a rainy day. Musty and strange. She held up the bottle a bit to inspect it. “Most… Why? Would you like the rest?”

He came toward her unthinkingly and took the bottle from her hand, swigging down the rest of it before he set it, empty, upon a side table.

“I thought you’d be with him already.”

“Nora, I…”

“Life isn’t fair,” she blurted out, interrupting him. “I…” Her gaze was clouded and shined with unshed tears. “ _I loved you, Warren._ ”

The ache in his heart increased tenfold and he reached for her, grasping her by her shoulders and dragging her upward until she was standing before him. His breath was caught in heavy draws of her scent and she stood helplessly, her hands loose at her sides as her tears spilled down her cheeks and her full lips trembled against sobs.

“ _Warren…_ ” she tried.

He was a fool for it all, but he kissed her and it wasn’t the first time he’d done it. Her lips were soft and giving and she kissed him back, her scent familiar despite its bold new guise of _Alpha_ which made it thrum in his mind and his heart. She was always kind with her kisses and always generous with him. As he knew would happen--as it always had--he felt himself stiffen in his trousers and he kissed her again with vigor, searching for her acceptance with his tongue. When she gave to him, she grasped his shirt in her fists and closed the distance between them, her hands roving over him until suddenly, she stopped.

She stopped everything. She pushed him slowly away from her and far enough that he was at the end of her arm, his own hands now the ones dangling uselessly at his sides while his cock strained for her.

It was most times that he felt like he couldn’t properly convey his meaning but this time was the worst of it. He’d only felt awkward around Nora for the beginning of their friendship but that had been so long ago that he had nearly forgotten that such a time existed. For so long hers had been the only friendship where he could be how he was meant to be. He could say whatever he wished to say. And now he’d gone and done _this_. 

“I’m sorry, Nora.” That wasn’t what he wanted to say. In fact, it was a lie. He wasn’t sorry. He wasn’t sorry at all that he’d kissed her and that he’d felt for her and that he’d _loved her so much._ He was sorry that what he’d had to do had come between them. He was sorry that the hand of fate had been so cruel as to provide naught but tragedy for the both of them.

She closed her eyes, more tears spilling onto her cheeks and he wanted no more than to wipe them away. “You have to be kind to him, Warren. I love him. He’s my brother. Please. Please...be kind to him. Like I know you are.”

“I will.”

“Promise. Promise me.”

“I promise.” This was the first time he would make this promise and he knew in his heart that it would have to be the last. For if he failed, Nora would never forgive him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave a comment if you're feeling it!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **Content Warning for this Chapter: Marital Rape. This is not dub-con. It's rape.**

Jasper was breathing hard when Warren left him, taking in the acrid scent of Alpha frustration and the vaguest hints of anger. It terrified him that perhaps the man was angry because there was no heat. Was he angry for Jasper’s lie? Was he angry at something else? There hadn’t been arousal--no spice of anything pleasured in his scent. He’d bared the Omega’s body, had looked at him naked in the firelight and had pressed the edge of his nose against his bare throat and still there had been nothing. All the apprehension that had formed inside Jasper’s body was still there when he had pulled the dressing gown back around himself and pulled the counterpane up to his chin.

Tears had to be blinked away and his breath had to be evened before he could turn on his side and stare at the wall for a little while. When he dozed, it was lightly, and his heart leaped when he woke to the sound of the door creaking open. It was Warren. He could tell by the Alpha’s scent--pensive and reserved. He pulled the sheets and counterpane tight around him and closed his eyes hard, hoping that perhaps Warren might think him asleep and would not come to him again.

It wouldn’t have made a difference in the end, he thought, as the Alpha settled into one of the chairs near the fireplace and did not move for a long time. Long enough that Jasper fell asleep again, still wondering what was happening to his life and to his new mate.

When he awoke, it was to the soft light of a summer dawn and he could hear the birds chirping outside as Norman moved very quietly around the room folding clothes and preparing his outfit. When the Beta made eye contact with him, he held a finger to his lips to signify for him to be quiet and then motioned over toward the fireplace. Jasper slowly sat up, curiously peering at the chair where he could see only Warren’s hand as it dangled from the armrest. The Alpha’s clothes were already prepared and folded on the chest at the end of the bed and Norman urged Jasper to get up so that he might be dressed before the man rose.

They were quick about the process, having been very used to it each other by now, and it was very soon that Jasper was wandering downstairs in search of some breakfast. Much to his chagrin, he found that he was not alone in the dining room and he was caught in the doorway by a few curious stares--one of them being Nora and another of them Warren’s father.

“Good morning, little one,” the latter stated, his tone betraying his mild surprise. It had nearly slipped Jasper’s mind that everyone would have expected an Omega in heat. “We hadn’t expected you.”

“I realize…” he began, clearing his throat softly. “Pardon...I think I was merely overcome yesterday.”

Nora had averted her eyes from him and was intently staring at the boiled eggs on her plate. She was curiously quiet, filling her mouth as he went to the sideboard and filled his plate. When he came back, she didn’t look at him, her cheeks pinkened. He wanted to tell her right now that he and Warren hadn’t spent the night together--that she ought not be so odd about his appearance. Surely, along with everyone else, she probably thought he’d been ravished the previous night and it was only too awkward to have everyone staring at him as though some ridiculously large change had happened to him _overnight_. It was only that he was married now. That his last name was Oakley rather than Wrightmore.

_That a man I’ve hardly met has seen me naked…_

Of course, he reminded himself, everyone around him thought Warren had done far more to him than merely look at him.

Warren’s father was peering at him curiously inbetween cutting up his ham. “Did you have a decent sleep, Omega?”

“It was serviceable. I often have difficulties in rooms that are not my own.”

“Hm,” was his only response, his brows high as he ate.

Without anything left to chat about, Jasper quickly finished his breakfast and excused himself, wandering toward one of the parlors and hoping it was unoccupied. He was not to be so fortunate and as he approached the half-open door, he could hear voices inside.

“ _A very odd little gentleman, to be sure._ ” He thought he recognized the voice as Warren’s mother and the next was his own Aunt Marjorie.

“ _He’s always been a little strange. We must forgive him, of course, the poor dear thought he was going to remain a Beta. He even began studying to become a barrister._ ”

“ _Oh, the darling. It is curious though. I heard from my girl that he was not in heat this morning and that he was not even scented._ ”

“ _How strange. Perhaps the two of them were less inclined than we might have thought._ ”

There was a delicate pause before Warren’s mother spoke again, softly. “ _I do hope that Ivan will not take exception. My husband can be forceful when it comes to such things. Warren must have had a good reason not to touch him...surely…_ ”

Jasper would have been aghast at himself if he could have seen the way he leaned in to hear Marjorie’s response.

“ _One must think rationally about the matter at hand--the boys do not know each other. They must have time to become acquainted. Asking them to become so intimate so quickly and without a heat...it is unreasonable if you ask me. He’s a gentle boy and he requires a careful hand. Nora has far more of a backbone than the boy does. She would have been the better choice._ ”

He had been following rather well until that last point, he thought sourly. With all that stewing about in his head, he turned on his heel and tried to find a less occupied parlor. Unfortunately, with all the guests who had been invited for the wedding, it seemed like there were people everywhere and they were _all_ surprised to see him. He artfully extracted himself from a few awkward situations on his way through the house and then, finally, found himself outside--free of everyone’s confused scents and questioning glances.

The summer breeze was cool and he quickly began to make his way toward a small out-of-the-way place he and Nora used to come to as children when they wished to be away and in some sort of fantasy world of dragons and princes. It was through a small thicket of trees set apart from the house across the lawn and within it was a storybook clearing which of course had enough sunlight to grow wildflowers with a gentle brook nearby for splashing in. His mother had commissioned a man to make a bench for them there and he quickly found it, glad to see that Nora had not found her way here as well. He was blissfully alone laid down upon the bench right away, his feet settled upon one of the armrests and crossed at the ankles while he settled in and closed his eyes.

His sleep the previous night had been too light and restless and so he was dozing in a matter of minutes, the birdsong in the trees and the bubbling brook lulling him toward a deeper slumber.

He knew not how late it was when he awoke but he was aware suddenly that it felt as though the sun were on him despite that the bench usually never made it out of the shade during the course of the day. Jasper pulled himself up, his muscles feeling both weak and restless. His whole body felt _wrong_ and he was breathless. With a hand to his chest, he looked about himself, confused and disoriented.

_My god...what’s happening to me?_

Unable to breathe properly, he untied and pulled his cravat from around his throat and tossed it to the ground, then noting that he was, indeed, still in the shade.

_Oh no…_

He tried to get up but succeeded only in tumbling off the bench into the grass. His legs felt like jelly and he wobbled terribly when he tried to get up again. It was too much to think that he would be capable of walking back to the house. Not like this. There were any number of strange Alphas there and he would have to navigate the halls to avoid all of them if he’d any hope of making it back to the bedroom.

_I really am a little fool, aren’t I? I told Norman I was only a day out and here I am having proven it to myself. I should have simply stayed abed._

But then he would have had to face Warren when the man woke and that concept alone was enough to keep him from having done it. Still, he wondered which scenario would have worked out more to his favor.

Determined, he grabbed his cravat again from the grass and pulled himself to the edge of the brook, staring down at the cool running water like some kind of desperate Narcissus. With a trembling hand, he dipped the cloth until it was saturated and then applied it to his throat, nearly moaning with the small relief it gave him. He wished he was naked in it. He wished he could tear off these clothes that itched at his skin and bathe like a fabled nymph in hidden pools. But life, he reminded himself, was not a fantasy. He was no nymph and there were no princes or princesses for him. There was only the reality that sooner or later, he was going to have to embarrass himself by somehow walking back to the house in this hideous state. Then, he was going to have to see Warren again and this time, there would be no mysterious reprieve.

He wiped at his face, squeezing the water from his cravat into his hair and over his face again, feeling the trickles make their way down to his chin and his throat, sliding to the fabric of his shirt and dribbling underneath to his chest. He wanted to be safe in his nest. He wanted Norman to place ice cold compresses over his body and above everything, he wanted to be left alone. But that, he knew, was far too much to ask.

He was too distracted to notice any sounds of a person approaching and so when he heard an Alpha’s voice, he startled violently, holding the wet cravat to his chest while his eyes darted toward the sound.

“What are you...doing...” Warren was clearly apprehensive, his approach wary from the start but even moreso now. “Oh. You’re…”

Jasper could feel an equal measure of relief and anxiety swirl through his emotions. The only better option here was for Nora to have found him and considering her reaction to his appearance this morning, he wasn’t certain he would have preferred her. Now, however, he had to remind himself that he was a proper gentleman despite having been just discovered in a strange position. He swallowed, searching for words.

Warren could smell him, clearly, and his huge body was suddenly tense when he slowly made his way to the bench Jasper had recently vacated. His knees seemed to give out and he sank down onto it, his tired eyes still focused upon the Omega. “I hadn’t expected this. I take it from your state that you hadn’t either.”

He very slightly shook his head, his eyes locked onto the Alpha. He was suddenly aware of every single part of his body and when the smallest amount of Warren’s aroused scent found his nose, all of his focus was suddenly upon the organ between his legs. He had been hard but now he was throbbing in time with his pulse, his body pleading him to allow for touch--for naked intimacy.

The Alpha was quiet, staring at him with open want born from this instinctual imperative. Rut could make a man do any number of unwise things and Jasper knew of tales of horror which came from men unable to control their basic, primal urges.

Jasper spoke, his voice wavering. “I apologize for last night. I did not mean to mislead you. And I apologize for now, as well. I suppose I should have known to stay in bed today but I did not wish to disturb you. I did not wish for…” he sighed through his nose. “...well, any of this.”

“I will take you back to the house.”

“I don’t want to go. I don’t want to be seen. I don’t want…” He took in a deep breath, annoyed to find it shaky. “I do not want anyone to know what is about to happen to me. It is too much for me to think about--that someone would see me and know that I am about to be…”

“It is a natural thing.”

“It is behind closed doors for a good reason. It is lewd and awful.”

Warren’s mouth tightened on one side and he gave a little “Hm” that reminded Jasper of the elder Mr. Oakley.

“I cannot know what I want to do...other than drag myself somehow down this stream to the deeper portion at the bend and sink myself down into it. My kingdom for a bucket of chipped ice…”

“There are too many guests out and about for us to go unnoticed and I will not leave you untouched. Is it too much hope that your father has a hunting cabin or perhaps some small cottage he met his mistresses?”

“ _Mistresses?_ ” Jasper balked. “ _What sort of man do you think my father is?_ ”

“Plenty of respectable gentlemen keep mistresses.”

There was too much inside that statement for Jasper to parse--mostly that he was uncertain as to whether he would prefer that or not. If Warren were to take his pleasure elsewhere, he would not have to worry about much outside of his heats and surely the man thought it completely reasonable to do so or he would not have stated it thusly. There was both hope and despair in these thoughts and he could have mulled on them more if the Alpha had not stood suddenly and the looming possibility of being touched once again filled the front of his mind.

“No. There is no hunting cabin or...place to keep _questionable_ lovers.”

“I will take you here, then.”

His body stiffened and he drew up, his wide eyes growing even wider as he stared at the Alpha where he stood. “W-What?”

“I will take you. Here. It is a comfortable enough spot and secluded. Only your sister seemed to know of it when I was searching for you. If it is somewhere you come because you crave comfort, then surely it would be better here for you than somewhere unfamiliar.”

“There is no nest. There is no...supplies…”

“Once we are done, you will care less about it after. No one will have known what is about to happen.”

“Only just what has _finished_ happening! What state shall I be in?! Are you mad? I could not let someone see me like that!” He was about to go on but could not when Warren approached him. He was shaking, clutching his damp cravat to his chest as the man loomed over him and he gave a small yelp when the Alpha came down to his knees--too close and smelling too good. The spice of that scent was surrounding him and he was breathing too quickly in short, stunted pants. Slick had begun to dribble out of him and he could feel it wetting his bottom. Soon, he would have no choice but to give in and the thought itself was terrifying.

“I will not have another argument, little one,” Warren told him. “Would you like help undressing?”

“I…” He was still holding his cravat to his chest and he realized too late that the question was rhetorical. The fabric was plucked out of his hand and Warren was quickly unfastening the front of his waistcoat, gently pulling at his garments until his shirt was sliding off of his shoulders, baring his pale, moist flesh to the cool summer breeze in the shade of the trees. “You...you’re going to…” He weakly tried to stop Warren’s hands but could not. “You’re going to...look at me…”

“What is this fear of being seen?” the Alpha asked him. “Is it so terrible to be seen?” He was still undressing him and touched him lightly upon his shoulder, his hand cool and still like fire over Jasper’s sensitive flesh. He moved him so that he was laying on his back in the soft grass and roughly pulled at his trousers until he had removed them, tossing them along with his shoes and his socks into a pile to the side. “It is not as though you are a hideous creature,” Warren told him plainly.

Jasper squirmed, turning his head to the side to reveal his throat, his eyes catching on the leg of the bench and sticking there. It was something to look at. Much like the point on the wallpaper last night, he thought it would become his anchor point. He was being looked at again and this time, it was midday and there was no dimness to hide any part of him. The Alpha was over him and he had unfastened his trousers, pulling himself out. Jasper most certainly didn’t want to look at that--in fact, it was the last thing he wanted to see.

“Would you like it like this, or would you like to be on your hands and knees?”

“I don’t care.”

Warren didn’t respond and merely raised Jasper’s legs about his waist, tucking himself comfortably between them and reaching down to position himself just at the entrance to his body, the soft head of him pressing inexorably until the resistance finally gave.

“ _Mmgh!_ ” He snapped his eyes shut hard. It didn’t _hurt_ , per se. It was foreign and strange and he certainly did not like it at first. The amount of slick that was dribbling out of him eased the process significantly. The Alpha’s shaft was rigid and engorged and pressed inside him completely until the flared base prevented it from moving any further. Jasper felt it inside him, opening him wide while his legs were spread around the man’s hips. This was more than he thought he could stand. There was nothing more degrading than this. His fingers were digging into the grass and the soil beneath them as Warren paused inside him, his breaths deep and contemplative. It was in this moment, he thought himself able to speak. “Alpha?”

Warren’s voice was low and husky with the lust that permeated his scent. “What.”

“Are we done? Is...is this all that is required?”

“No.”

He felt as though he could sob and yet his body cried out for more--whatever more was. He wanted to come but could not consider how he was going to do so if he could not touch himself--an act he was unwilling to commit while another man watched him. He kept his eyes shut and swallowed thickly, hoping that whatever else had to be done, it would be done quickly.

_The bite._

Oh. He wasn’t looking forward to that. It was silly he even had to be reminded of it. But, of course, before he could think more about it, Warren had begun to shift, his hips rocking back and forth in order to thrust inside of Jasper’s opened body.

“ _Uhn!_ ” Jasper cried, unable to hold back when the part of Warren that had split him open rubbed against a particularly pleasurable spot inside him. Despite everything being profoundly uncomfortable, the Alpha had managed to somehow to touch something inside that produced a sliver of pleasure and that sliver was enough to send Jasper’s heart fluttering in his chest. He tightened his legs about the man’s hips and his fingers dug harder into the grass, his eyes pinpointed upon the leg of the bench as though it was the only thing he could trust to remain the same after this was all over. He was rocked and bounced back and forth and with each thrust, he was given just another ounce of that insidious pleasure that seemed to stay within him, stored deep in his belly while his nervousness also compounded within.

Jasper thought wearily that he had been mistaken. There was nothing more degrading than _this._

He felt the Alpha take his wrists and move them to pin them near to his shoulders while his hips jerked in his effort. Despite not having done much of anything, Jasper was breathing hard and he could feel his sweat forming and trickling over his flesh. If someone were to come upon them now, he would simply die. If someone were to find him out here in the light shade of these trees getting rutted into the earth, he would just roll over and sink down into the grass and remain a part of this place forever. It would be the only sensible thing. It would be the only thing he could think to do.

Still, he could feel the hidden pearls of pleasure inside him building and he wasn’t sure what he felt when Warren began to press his big knot against Jasper’s opening, begging him for entry.

_Oh my God...the knot! It’s huge!_

There was a small part of him that pleaded for it, a voice inside him that wanted more than anything to be allowed to _breed_. 

“ _Uhhhnngh!_ ” he cried as the knot pressed hard against him. Despite all the discomfort from the forceful nudges, he could still feel his cock twitching on his belly, his lust yet to be sated and his body crying out for more. _More._

_Goddamn heat!_

He nearly screamed when he felt his body give way, the pain lancing up through his spine before it was suddenly over with, the knot sealing him shut while Warren gave short, shallow thrusts which happened to press _exactly_ where Jasper needed.

As far as Jasper knew, they both came together. He wouldn’t really know. He had shut his eyes, his mouth open in a short, sharp scream. He tried to reach up, to grasp at Warren’s shoulders but felt his hands slip on the man’s sweaty flesh. His arms flailed uselessly when the Alpha leaned down and put his mouth to the slope of his neck and shoulder, biting down ruthlessly until Jasper was screaming again, his hands finally finding Warren, though this time his hair. He pulled, struggling to get the Alpha away from him, to get those teeth out of his neck and, perhaps most importantly, the cock out of his ass.

“ _Mmmgh!_ ”

Warren released him, pulling his hands away roughly and pinning him down again. There was blood on his lips and he was panting, breathless and tired as he subdued the Omega. “Calm. Calm yourself.”

“ _You hurt me!_ ”

“It is only a bite. It will never have to happen again.”

He struggled again, fighting against the Alpha’s grip on his wrists. “Let me go. Let me go!”

“Where do you think you are going to go? You are stuck here for at least a few minutes. It cannot be all bad, you’re in heat...you’ve come...” Though Warren’s face was florid already from his exertion, it seemed as though his cheeks pinkened further as he looked at Jasper’s pearly spend between them.

The Omega hissed through his teeth. “It is not for enjoyment that a man partakes when nature begs her due! I am naked and held down and now I am soiled. I would like very much to go back to my own bed. You’ve gotten what you needed from me and I wish very much to be left _alone._ ”

“I cannot fully allow that, you must understand.”

“I do _not_ understand,” he snapped. “I am a fully grown and independent man. I should need no looking after from men like you.”

Warren stared down at him, his brows twitching a bit as his reaction. “You’re an Omega. Omegas have ruling Alphas. That is simply the way of things.”

“A few months ago, everyone was very happily minding their own business when it came to my affairs and now even men I hardly know want to put their noses right in them. You’re all just power-hungry savages.”

The Alpha sighed through his nose. “Am I to be similarly berated the next time I knot you as well?”

“ _Next time!_ ” he trilled. “You’ve hurt me, Alpha, and you’ve held me down, what makes you think that there should be a next time!?”

“Your complaint is invalid. I’ve done nothing to you that a man given guardianship and mateship of you is not entitled.”

Jasper felt a burning heat well up in his throat from his chest and he growled up through gritted teeth. “ _You are not entitled to me!_ ”

“You cannot make something so simply for the passion of having stated it thusly. Your emotion does not invalidate law. I am your Alpha. This is my right as your husband. It can be pleasurable for you--you’ve just witnessed this. Your enjoyment of our union is on your own shoulders, not mine. I will not be burdened by your bitterness at your circumstance at every moment. If you would like to spend some time alone after we return to the house, you may do so but do not expect to be given too great a length of time.”

Before Jasper knew what he was doing, his palm was stinging and Warren’s head was turned from the force of his slap. He felt a welling panic begin to overtake him as he stared upward at the Alpha who he knew could not abide an injury against his pride. Fortunately for him, the man seemed utterly resigned, his scent flickering with his frustrations but not quite tipping over the border into anger. He had a supreme self-control that left Jasper near speechless--another fortuitous twist of fate for surely he would be in far more trouble should he have argued again.

It was only a few torturously silent minutes before the Alpha’s body allowed him to retreat and when he was fully disengaged, Warren tucked himself away and gave Jasper one last stoic glance before he departed without another word.

Naked and alone now, he lay in the shade and felt slick and seed dribble out of him into the grass. His neck ached sharply and he brought his fingers to it, delicately sweeping them over the wound and bringing them away to see the red of his blood upon them. At least, he thought, the man had sense enough to place it where Jasper would not often have to see it.

_And well you reminded him that no good deed is to go unpunished. He thought of your comfort in that and yet all you could do is deride him._

Without more thought of it, he sat up stiffly and tried to put himself back together as best he could. It was difficult without Norman and he didn’t even bother with his cravat, carrying it with him in his hand as he wandered back to the house. Fortunately, there were not many people milling about the garden as a low, dark storm cloud had covered the sun and dropped the temperature by a few degrees as it threatened rain. The only person on the terrace was Nora who saw him and made to say something before she noticed his disheveled state and quickly shut her mouth. Whatever had gotten into her, Jasper was certain he liked it for it kept her from bothering him.

He crept up the servant stairwell to his room and found Norman within, laying out clothes on top of the bed.

“You are not supposed to be in here,” the Beta told him with a glance over his shoulder at him. “If you want a nap, you’ll have to go to your shared room.”

“This has been my room for years,” he argued. “And I’m feeling very uncomfortable with having that changed all of a sudden.”

“That is very unfortunate, sir, but in a week…” he gave a little sniff, noting the scent of Jasper’s heat around him. “...perhaps more or less, depending...you won’t be staying here anymore. I understand that your mate has business in London and will be taking you there while he works.”

Jasper felt his upper lip curl at the idea of his husband _working_. “You’ll be coming as well…”

“If he’ll allow it, I’ll come. Now scurry off. I can smell that you’re not in dire straits but--”

“I would like a bath. And I’d like it in this room.”

Norman stood up straight and half-turned, his brows raising high. “A bath? Your Alpha wouldn’t like that very much. He’s just got his scent all over you and now you want to wash it off?”

“Sometimes I think my parents are much too lax with what you’re allowed to say to me.”

“You should hear what I don’t say,” he replied softly while he turned again, folding a pair of trousers expertly. “Fine. Mess up this perfectly made bed with your nest if you will, and lay down for a bit. I’ll get the staff to heat up your water. Would you like a poultice on your bite as well?”

“If you’re offering one.”

“I’m not.”

With that, Norman was gone and Jasper was left muttering to himself of the man’s sheer insolence in his absence. It was a trait seldom valued in members of a house’s staff but for some reason, the Wrightmore patriarchs always seemed to hire Betas with a fair bit of spark to them. Jasper had become used to it through his life and only now did it really grate on him. He had always been able to count on Norman to be a voice of reason--why now did he side with the Alpha?

He felt another surge of tears come to his eyes and he wiped at them when they spilled. He managed to get control over himself fairly quickly this time but did not manage to make a nest or rest at all before the bath was brought to him. He stood by the window and watched the rain as it began to fall over the lawn and the rolling hills beyond. He could see the branches of the yew trees swaying as the storm rustled them back and forth, their image blurry through the moisture on the glass. He didn’t stop staring at them when the bath was finished being brought. He couldn’t move himself until he felt Norman’s gentle touch upon his arm.

“Little one…”

He replied in a whisper. “Please don’t call me that.”

“Master Jasper...the bath is ready and it is hot. You’d best get in it if you’re going to rest at all while you can. I can see you’re already getting worked up again.”

He wanted to ask what the devil the man could mean by that but he knew so he didn’t. He let him undress him and when he was nude, he half-heartedly tried to hide himself with his hands, his stiffness still a burden on his conscience despite the man’s professionalism. When he was in to his shoulders, he let Norman continue folding clothes in the room as he washed himself, feeling sweat beginning to form over his face and neck even as he worked hard to wipe it all away. He was gentle when he washed the wound on his neck, feeling the dried blood already beginning to scab.

Norman’s voice was very quiet and unobtrusive. “He’s not a bad man. His father will not have a hand in how you’re treated and it is at least this for which you can be thankful. He has a house in London that comes from his own money.”

Jasper played with the surface of the water.

“He is not beholden to any inheritance and has more freedoms than many of your ilk in that regard. His father may have had a hand in raising him but he’s got no hand in what he does now. You’ll have your own household to run. God willing, you’ll have me with you. It’s not the end of everything.”

“It is for me.”

The man looked at him, his fingers still on the stack of clothes on the bed. “I’m trying. I’m trying, Jasper. I want to make everything right for you. I’ve tried for as long as I’ve known you--your whole life. I’ve tried to talk you into things and out of things and sometimes I’ve succeeded. There is nothing I can say to you now. Nothing to talk you into. Nothing to talk you out of. This is out of my hands.”

He blinked slowly, his body tingling with renewed vigor. “I’m scared, Norman.”

“I know.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok. If you think you can forgive Warren for this, feel free to read on. In my test audience, he goes on to be the more sympathetic character so if you don't want to see that happen, feel free to wait this one out. I'm very Team Warren but I'm a sucker for redemptions for idiots.
> 
> Whenever I want to write this story, I just listen to "Once in my Life" by The Decemberists on repeat until the mood is back.


	4. Chapter 4

Warren found himself staring out at the rain in the parlor on the ground floor when he felt something intrude into the subtle cold that was often the state of his heart. It was a heaviness that was warm...no... _hot._ It stayed for too long and got heavier still as people saw him. Every eye over his back when they came into the parlor and then left after smelling him--his scent and his mate’s scent. The scent of sex and heat and rut and reproachful words and hard resentment. He knew they were talking about him. What else was there to talk about? The night after a wedding and this was the state of him--a drink in his hand that had yet to even be sipped and his eyes staring unblinkingly into the rain.

It was far, far too hot. Finally, he couldn’t take it anymore when he caught sight of Nora looking at him in the reflection of the glass and he turned around, refusing to look her in the eye when he passed her, disappearing out the french doors and into the rain. At least it wasn’t too hot outside. The rain was cool and it soaked him immediately down to his skin. He stood in it, putting his hands in his pockets and simply standing until he was shivering and lightning forked through the darkening sky. This would wash everything away...everything except for what happened.

_He’s a gentleman. You’re nothing to him. He’s disgusted by you. All the money in the world can’t buy what he has. Pedigree. What do you have in your blood? What are you worth, Warren Oakley?_

He sighed and turned around, walking in his sodden shoes up the stairs. He was unsurprised to find that the room he was supposed to be sharing with his mate was empty and he began to undress, pulling the bellcord to see if he might be able to at least procure a towel. He was in just his trousers when there was a gentle knock to the door and the Beta--Norman--entered, his arm already draped with a long, fluffy towel as though he had known to begin that Warren would require one.

The Alpha peered at him curiously as he took it. “How did you know?”

“It is in my best interest to know.”

“Tell me how.”

He swallowed and nodded diplomatically. “Miss Nora.”

“The family trusts you,” he provided as he rubbed the moisture from his hair. “You’ve been with them a long time, then?”

“A few years before Master Wrightmore was born. I was just a lad then.”

“And he grew on you.”

“Yes, sir.”

Warren turned away from him and looked toward the window again. Lightning flickered in the clouds and he replied quietly. “Lord help me, I hope he grows on me…” 

He did not even have to ask the man to prepare the bed for him and when he turned around again, Norman was already turning it down, fluffing the pillows and finding extras from the closet for the nest that could potentially be built later on when his mate arrived. He was a decent worker and there was no real reason why Warren might not have allowed him to come. To prevent it might have been seen as a slight against Jasper.

Warren cleared his throat. “You stated that you’d be willing to extend your services to me last night. I suppose the offer still stands?”

“Of course, sir.”

“Then I will accept it.” What he wasn’t certain he could accept was the idea that perhaps the valet could keep secrets from him. To work so closely with a servant and have their loyalties align more closely with his mate was unnerving. But it would have to do. This would at least give him the chance of having an inside look at Jasper’s thoughts.

“Thank you, sir.”

He nodded, having expected the gentle gratitude. He put out a hand and touched at the soft fabric of the pillows on the bed. “I do not know if he’ll come here tonight.”

“He will,” the Beta replied. He’d run out of things to do and so he stood patiently, his eyes lowered in deference.

“You know him well. You’re sure?”

“I am. He is willful and stubborn and sometimes callous though I do not think he means to be. Forgive me for speaking so candidly about your mate, Mr. Oakley, but if you wish to be consoled, the boy is weak to his baser instincts. He will seek you out.”

Warren nodded again. There was an ache in his chest again and one he readily recognized. It was an odd thing for an Alpha--to feel self doubt. He felt it now as it was impossible for him to think that he had done something good or right no matter how much he tried to convince himself of it. He had held the Omega down. He had made certain to take what was his.

_You hurt me!_

Warren _had_ hurt him. That was the nature of their bond. He had no doubt that there would be an untold amount of hurt for Jasper in the future and there was nothing Warren could really do to stop it. He was bound now by the powers that be to remain Jasper’s protector and even that title was perhaps too generous for what he really felt like--a _jailer_.

He sat on the edge of the bed, his voice very soft. “I cannot know if that is what I prefer…”

“Forgive me again, Mr. Oakley…”

“Speak, Beta.”

There was a sigh. “I can hardly think it my place to give you my thoughts but I have done so for so long with your mate, it is second nature. You will both be off to London together without your families and there you can find some peace. Perhaps when the heat fades, it will be easier for you to find common ground.”

“I fear that the heat is the only common ground we will find.”

“Eventually you will have children. There is no law that I know of stating an Alpha must love his mate. But you will tolerate him. Will you not?”

Warren peered up at the man who stared at him imploringly. This was a plea hidden behind gentle words. Norman wasn’t asking him to tolerate Jasper--he was asking him not to harm him. It was too late for that. He’d already harmed him. “I won’t be sending him to the country to rot…if he likes to be in London there are many distractions. Perhaps he has friends who remain.”

“It may be shocking for an Alpha to discover that a new Omega’s friends are few.”

He sighed and felt his shoulders slump a little. “It is difficult to conceptualize the hardship...he told me...nevermind.”

“Very good, sir.”

“I will take my meals here. I do not think I wish to see anyone else today.” Perhaps there was something to Jasper’s reluctance to be seen, after all, he thought as he undressed and settled himself into his bed. In particular, he did not wish to be seen by his father who no doubt would have plenty of pressing questions--the first of which was why in the hell he and Jasper were not currently in the same room with each other. He turned toward the wall and stared at the wallpaper, wondering if he was looking at the same spot Jasper had been during their failed coupling the previous night. His eyes unfocused as he became lost into thoughtful nothingness and soon he looked at nothing as his eyelids drooped and he dozed the afternoon away to the sound of the rain outside his window.

He knew not what time it was when he awoke but it was dark and the fire in his room had been lit to keep the warmth from fading. It was still raining and the gentle shush was lulling. It was not completely obvious what had woken him at first, but as he came awake slowly, his nose found a spicy sweetness.

_Heat._

He was already hard beneath the sheets, his knot growing with anticipation. He made certain to take his time when he turned onto his back and looked about, blinking away his sleep. Jasper stood near the door, his body covered in naught but nightclothes and a dressing gown as he pressed his back against the wall. Warren, as was expected, did not know how he felt about this. On one hand he was a very randy Alpha who could not wait to get his hands upon his mate again to sink inside him and let the pleasure roll through his body. On the other, he was a man who remembered a very painful slap and disdainful words shouted up at him through held-back tears.

When he met Jasper’s eyes he saw a boy who was equal parts lustful and apprehensive. He was embarrassed by himself. By his need. He stood there not knowing whether or not he could trust Warren to accept him even after all he’d done and said. He was frightened and ashamed and the Alpha would be a fool not to recognize it. But what he did about it--that was the measure of a man.

He cleared his eyes and regarded the Omega patiently, reaching for the covers on the open side of the bed and wordlessly flipping them down to create an open space for the boy to lay. When Jasper didn’t move, he murmured into the silence between them.

“I can control myself, mate. I don’t have to touch you.”

Jasper seemed to give out a little sob. “I...I do not know if I can say the same…”

“What is it that you fear from me?” He lay on his back, his eyes trained on the boy lit only by the orange glow of the firelight which shined over his sweat.

“I don’t know.” He shook his head lightly and Warren could see dribbles of perspiration fall from his hair. “I...I don’t...I mean…I don’t want to be hurt.”

There was a small silence that stretched between them before Warren broke it. “I cannot hope to promise against it. I cannot lie to you and pretend that I will never cause you discomfort.”

Jasper closed his eyes and turned his head, further flattening himself against the wall. “It would be easier...if you lied.”

He nodded to himself. It would make things easier in the short-term, certainly. But lies had their way of grasping reality with insidious claws and twisting it to form ugly paths too gnarled for truth in the long-term. “I will never lie to you. No matter how painful the truth. Eventually, you will appreciate that.”

“I cannot think of it now,” he replied breathlessly and Warren could smell the fragrance of fresh slick as it dribbled down his legs. “I have never felt like this...I am so... _humiliated._ ”

“Must I again remind you that this is natural? You should feel no shame in it.”

“I do not know you. To come to you like this...to think that I could have even considered it...to be here now...I could die of mortification.” He gave another soft sob. “You are a stranger to me and yet my body craves you. Whatever it is that you’ve done to me…” He whispered his next words and they pierced at Warren’s heart. “ _I hate it._ ”

“I find it difficult to empathize as I cannot know the struggles of an Omega. I cannot leave you be for the whole of your heat, but I can leave you be for tonight if you wish. You have not been clear on which you would prefer and I will not make that decision for you. Not now. Perhaps tomorrow.”

“I do not want to make that decision.”

“If you will make me choose for you, then I will take you. It will ease your distress. If this is what you wish, and I think it is based solely on the fact that you are here now, then you should come to this bed and stop thinking all these unnecessary thoughts. If it is not what you wish, then you should go back to whatever room it was that you came from...I am in no mood to be pulled in all directions by your mercurial nature.”

It was the wrong thing to say, of course, though Warren wasn’t sure which part of it was the part which had done it or if it was the whole of its parts together. The boy covered his face with his hands and wept bitterly, crumpling onto the floor in a ball while the scent of anguish leaked underneath his heat scent. Tears were not something he was accustomed to and they were not something most Alphas were capable of stemming. At a loss, he slid from the bed, shuffling over the carpet in his bare feet until he could lean over the boy and gather him into his arms. From that point, it was easy to place a hand upon the back of his neck and squeeze just slightly.

The tension in the boy’s body physically melted away and his mouth dropped open, his eyes still closed and the remnants of his tears evidenced on his cheeks. The back of the neck truly was part magical, Warren marveled, recalling how his father had suggested in moments of high emotion he use it and use it liberally. His mother had been far less enthused about the notion and had cautioned him that it was not something to be taken lightly. He trusted his mother, but he was quite disgruntled now and so he had tried it and found it to be satisfactory. He moved Jasper to the bed and let go of him, finding that the effect lingered when he released enough for him to undress him. Once he was naked, Warren loomed over him, shedding his night clothes and waiting to touch him until all of his sense had returned.

That, it seemed, was impossible, for no sooner had the disorienting effect dissolved, the haze of heat was upon him. He stared up at Warren with a naked lust tempered only by the underlying apprehension that had previously plagued him. That, however, seemed not to remain in the forefront of his mind as he was too close to the Alpha’s scent to deny his instinct. His body let loose another gush of slick and Warren reached down, holding himself to the Omega’s entrance before he pressed forward steadily and breached him.

“ _Ahnn…_ ” Jasper moaned, his legs suddenly tight against Warren’s hips. His body was the most heavenly of sheathes, his opening slippery and welcoming. Despite his reluctance to mate, now that he was here, he was more than accepting and his hands came to Warren’s chest not to push him away, but to feel him and hold to his shoulders. With each new deep thrust, the Omega let out another short groan and soon he was panting his pleasure, his eyes closed and his head tilted to the side to bare the raw mark left from Warren’s teeth that morning.

It was all the Alpha could do not to lean down and run his tongue curiously over the wound, exploring his own bite and examining the ridges of dried blood which would scar and mark him as his mate forever. It was a point of both anguish and pride and so he kept his mouth to himself, wishing not to remind the man beneath him that he was submitting to this yet again and this time through more of his own volition--though not all, he provided in his mind. He could not erase the fact that should Jasper not have been driven by his own body’s insistence, he would never have come to the bed of the Alpha who had dominated him previously. In fact, he never would have come to an Alpha at all, more than likely. It was the way of it, he often thought, that should Omegas not have been driven by their overwhelming lusts, they might all be more prone to staying as far away from Alphas as humanly possible.

Still, Mother Nature had a lot to answer for when it came to the sensibilities of many Omegas and Jasper Wrightmore was certainly included in their number. Warren pitied him as much he could but it was difficult to seek full empathy when one was also driven by the biological need to mate. He increased the pace of his hips, letting himself fully feel the taut body around him as he sought to bump the boy with his knot, reminding him of what he wished. To be buried. To be _imbedded_. Of course, Warren thought, it would be much better should he be in a less awkward position should this end not to his favor.

With that idea in mind, he pulled away and out, noting that Jasper’s immediate reaction was to keen pitifully and paw at him as though he were afraid that the Alpha would leave him entirely. With a strong grip and a decisive turn, Warren grasped the Omega by his shoulders and then flipped him bodily over to his stomach, holding him down while he struggled weakly in order to press inside him again, spreading his legs open so he could kneel between them. He fucked him like this for a few minutes before he felt himself close to his climax and then carefully pressed his knot against him, testing the resistance. Surely Jasper would have been sore--perhaps too sore. But when his hips canted up toward him in a wordless plea, he was convinced that one more would not harm him.

He pressed hard until he heard a whine of displeasure beneath him and as though in apology, he gave some shallow thrusts instead before he tried again. It was upon the fourth try that the body beneath him gave way and his knot slid and locked into place, the shocking tremors Jasper gave in orgasm leading him to spend almost immediately after. Worn from the exertion, he very gently held himself up by his forearms, his chest lightly resting against his mate’s back as they breathed together, their coital pheromones mingling pleasantly together--a far more enjoyable experience than that morning, certainly. And this time, Warren had been sure to create a more suitable position to avoid the possibility that he could be slapped.

After he had caught his breath, he smelled the boy’s hair, his sweat sweet and yet meaningless. “Should you wish to be on your side, Omega?”

Jasper’s voice was soft and calm even as he replied succinctly, “Do not call me that.”

“That is what you are.”

“I prefer to be referred to by _who_ I am. And that is _Jasper_.”

He sighed through his nose. Nothing could ever be easy for him, could it? “Jasper, then. Should you like to be on your side?”

“...yes.”

Warren moved him slowly and carefully, pulling the sheets over them before he rested his arm over Jasper’s side.

“Must you?”

“Must I what?”

“Must you hold me?”

He blinked, quelling the affront welling in his throat. The petulant little creature was trying his patience. “I challenge you to find a suitable thing to do with my arm when I am so close to your back. There is but one position in which I will find comfort and that is this one. Do you abhor my touch so completely?”

“What if I do?”

“I had thought you merely ambivalent toward me before and I have come to realize your resentment stems from the duty I perform. Despite that it aides you, you would deny it to yourself if only for the requirement of it. I...daresay I...will confess that I relate strongly to the sentiment.” He swallowed, unsure if he really had been willing to make that confession to a boy like this who might use it against him.

“Then you cannot be surprised by my coldness.”

“Only that it comes on so quickly,” replied easily. “I suggest now that we come to an understanding. While we are here, there must be a method by which we can be sure to sate your appetite as it arises and not ruffle each other’s feathers.”

Jasper gave a small sigh. “Had you not forced yourself upon me this morning, my body would not crave what it had never experienced. This is your fault.”

“I will not take blame for what is expected of me. It was expected of you as well. In fact, all of this is expected of us. Every time we join together, it is for the betterment of ourselves.” He wasn’t absolutely sure he believed that but it sounded better than what he could have stated. “You and I will simply have to come to terms with this and with each other.”

“Then I will tell you my terms. I do not wish for you to speak to me when I am in bed with you.”

Warren was speechless and the Omega continued.

“I do not want your scent upon me at all when we are outside your room. I do not wish to be called ‘Omega’ or ‘little one’ or whatever else you might call some sort of pet you own. I wish to be touched as little as possible and when we are in London and I am out of heat, I would like a separate room entirely.”

The Alpha licked his lips. He felt his knot subsiding gradually and moved to test the seal, finding it still a little too large to be extracted. “I suppose your reluctance to hear me speak to you should exempt small necessaries. I think that is the only one of your terms that I would seek to clarify. The others are sufficient.”

“Yes. Should you be unable to convey meaning through action and should you need my consent--not that you have cared much for it before--then you may speak.”

“So for the course of this heat, I am no more to you than a simple tool,” he suggested, knowing the answer.

“Forgive me if I am presumptuous in this but I assumed the utilisation was mutual.”

“It will be, if those are your terms.”

“They are.”

Warren thought for a moment. “Will you admit them to me face-to-face?”

“Is it required for you to respect them?”

He was tempted to tell him that it was. He was tempted to remind this stubborn little creature that he was the _Alpha._ But that would not have made either of their lives any easier and he’d already said enough in the past day or so to have made this very moment come around so naturally. “No.”

“Then you’ll have to forgive me if I do not. It would make it much more difficult to speak to you so candidly should I be reminded of your position. My sex is still a cross for me to bear and it is heavy upon my shoulders. It is much better for me not to look at you and be reminded of my body’s betrayal.”

Warren nodded to himself mostly. “Of course.” He tested the seal again and was relieved to slide out, rolling upon his back to reach for the water that was upon the side cupboard. He drank thirstily and expected the boy to sit up to get some but was irked to find that he did not. His agreement that he would not speak was already grating on him. “Water, O--Jasper?”

“Perhaps later. I am tired now.”

He looked at the boy’s small frame where he lay and felt a cool jab of pity just under his heart. It was unfathomable that anyone’s life could be railroaded so completely. Everything that one was--one suddenly wasn’t. Despite his own life having been a series of unforeseen events, he could not deny that he was given far more luck than he deserved and certainly far more than this poor soul in bed with him. If all Jasper wished for was relief, there was validity to the notion. He couldn’t help but support it...even if it did make him feel a little useless. He laid back down again, pulling the covers up around him while he lay facing away from his mate, a coolness settling over his wet cock.

Due to the fact that he could not speak, he mouthed words instead, hoping that his calm, placid Alpha scent might soothe the bitterness that was apparent in Jasper’s. _“Good night, little Jasper. Perhaps tomorrow will be easier for you. Perhaps tomorrow will be better all around.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh man, these two...hahah. What beautiful disasters.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> **CW for Chapter 5: Infidelity. It lasts for a long time after this so if you're not comfortable with infidelity, this is where you duck out.**

Jasper wasn’t certain what to think about his heat by the time it had mostly faded. Warren had followed the terms he had set down to the letter and for the most part didn’t speak to him at all. He wordlessly insisted upon Jasper drinking plenty of water and ordered food when it was necessary, sure to ask Norman for what he thought was best rather than assume he might know what Jasper would like. The Alpha spent most of his time in bed and occasionally got up to write letters in his dressing gown, business in London still on his mind. At least once he was persuaded by the pressing scent of need emanating from the bed to get up from his work and sate Jasper’s rampant lusts before he disengaged and went right back to it. He was curt, almost professional, and took Jasper from behind each time, their coupling usually quick and animalistic with not a single torturous soft touch that might break the fragile hold Jasper had over his harder emotions.

It was a dreary day, the morning light filtered by heavy rain clouds which hung over the landscape while Jasper bathed and Warren snoozed. His heat scent was almost gone though he could feel one last clinging urge he couldn’t deny and so when he was finished with his bath, he approached the bed and the big Alpha who lay within it. His gentle weight which barely jostled the mattress was enough to cause Warren to crack an eye but the man did not move when Jasper came to him, unable to ask with words for what he wished.

Warren’s nose tested the air and then he rubbed his eyes with his fingers. “Would you like to go to London today or tomorrow?”

Jasper didn’t want to go to London at all but particularly, he didn’t want to be having this conversation. He was feeling a peculiar sort of lust that was only a little removed from heat lust and he wanted it taken care of. “I...I am not feeling quite yet set to rights, Alpha. Though my scent has altered, I have a lingering…” he didn’t want to say it and so he hoped the man would gather his intent, his eyes upon the counterpane.

Warren’s face caught his gaze as the Alpha’s brows twitched suddenly together in a uniquely mild bit of consternation. He studied Jasper for a moment and then slowly sat up, leaning forward to place his nose close to the Omega’s neck before he breathed in deeply. His voice was deep and his warm breath flickering over Jasper’s naked flesh caused goosebumps to rise over his arms. “May I touch you?”

“Y-yes.”

Much to Jasper’s despair, the touch was hardly sensual in the least, the man placing his wrist against the Omega’s forehead to check for fever. One of his brows popped upward and he pulled his wrist away. His response was infuriating. 

“Hmm.” It was all he said before he got up, letting the blankets fall from his body. He was well-formed certainly and he held himself loosely, completely relaxed in his nakedness as he took to the bathwater, wetting a spare cloth and bathing himself with brief strokes, focusing most upon the places which happened to most often become coated with slick.

“Alpha…”

“Hmm?” he asked, not looking up.

He didn’t know what he wanted to ask. After all, he had set down his terms. He was out of heat. There was no obligation here. There was no expectation. Should he begin this now, it was not entirely certain that his mate would respect his boundaries...if his boundaries could be said to hold water after all. When Warren finally looked up at him waiting for a response, he shook his head, a chasm opening inside him that he didn’t recognize. Despite having just spent an entire week in a warm bed with a man beside him, he just now realized the yawning loneliness that had swallowed him. It had been easy to ignore that when he had been hazy in the mind and yearning for touch and sex and possession.

He never got the chance to be sated again and eventually was convinced by Norman to agree to a trip to London that day. Sitting across from Warren in the coach was perhaps the worst of it. He didn’t want to be looked at and at the same moment, he was infuriated by the way Warren completely ignored him, his expression severe even in his candid moments when he peered out the coach windows toward the countryside. The silence was oppressive between them and Jasper felt nearly desperate for any kind of distraction. He could have almost wished that Nora was with them, even as he felt annoyed by her very presence after her presentation had produced this entire nightmare.

Finally the buildings outside began to crowd a little together and at length, he debarked from the coach, ignoring Warren’s outstretched hand and rubbing his legs which felt very stiff from all the sitting he had done. He walked with Norman behind him and was allowed into the house, his light jacket taken by the housekeeper who introduced himself as Stanley--a charming Omega with a ready smile who seemed absolutely intimidated by Norman’s commanding and severe presence. It seemed that Warren had conveyed Jasper’s wishes to the man prior to their arrival and he was immediately shown to the master bedroom’s adjoining suite to rest before supper. As soon as he was left alone with the Beta, he moved to the door which led to Warren’s bedroom and locked it.

“Do you think that entirely necessary?” Norman asked him before he moved to the large closet and inspected inside. “Did you not sufficiently overcome your differences with him over the week you were engaged in--”

“Norman, please.”

He was answered with a nonplussed sort of expression. “You’ve received an invitation to a small gathering tonight held by a very prominent woman who happens to have remained in London. She found out that you were coming and that you were newly wedded and thought that you might like to join a small dinner party.”

He pressed his palm to his forehead. “I have only just come out of heat, Norman, surely I can wait to make these acquaintances.”

“I beg you to go, Master Jasper. Not only will it aide you in making connections beneficial to your new status, it will remove you as a temptation from your husband.”

He blinked. “What?”

“Your mate was invited but he is to be engaged with business all evening. I’ve kept a suitable outfit for you at the top of your luggage and it shouldn’t have been wrinkled too horribly on the journey. If you would like, I will cover up your bondmark and you may attend the dinner alone.”

“Alone…” he repeated.

“Alone, sir. You are a mated Omega. You are at no great risk. Lady Glorehaven does not invite a great many Alphas to her dinners and in fact, your mate could have been the only one. They are never expected to come, in any case.” He paused, tilting his head with expectation. “Will you go, then?”

He frowned and considered it. It would be nice to be around other people. Perhaps people who might be sane and normal rather than his ridiculous family or his cold and severe Alpha husband. “I...I think I will. Back to talking me into things, hm?”

“Things have a tendency to fall back into normal patterns when you keep old faces around.”

 _And thank god for that,_ he thought. Of course, heading out to parties wasn’t exactly a normal pattern for him though it did get him out of eating supper alone or worse, with Warren, so he went. Norman had picked out his favorite attire which did not make him look like some strutting little peacock and had expertly tied his cravat so that it did not appear loose but felt much like it so that pressure would not irritate his still-healing bondmark.

He was nervous when he wandered into the parlor at Lady Glorehaven’s home but managed to keep his wits about him as he was greeted easily. There were no Alphas present but a few Beta gentlemen who bowed to him accordingly and thankfully did not try to take his hand so that they might kiss his fingers. He didn’t think he could handle that sort of thing, even as he did very well to remember when he was being introduced that his name really was now Mr. Oakley instead of Mr. Wrightmore. It was common in some circles to refer to an Omega man by his former last name when he became mated but only really on occasion in which there might be some confusion and here, there could none for he was not with his husband. He found it difficult to smile, his mouth taut as though pulled by a cord fastened at his ears.

It had not occurred to him that his nervousness might be easily noticeable until he was handed a glass of brandy by an unfamiliar Beta gentleman and bade to sit upon the davenport while the man settled himself down in a nearby overstuffed armchair. His scent was relaxed and mild, the musk of it compelling among the sweetness of the Omegas who were mostly stationed on the opposite side of the room, not knowing quite what to think of Jasper and his sour anxiety.

“You’re going to be very stiff tomorrow morning if you sit like that all night,” the Beta told him.

“Pardon, sir, we’ve not been properly introduced,” he replied, looking down at the brandy the man had handed him.

“Allow me, then. I’m Rogueford.”

“Jasper Oakley.”

The Beta lifted his glass to his lips and took a hearty swallow. “Married long, Mr. Oakley?”

He dared to look up, making eye contact and surprising himself at his ability to keep it held. “About a week, my Lord.”

His expression morphed into an easy smile, warm and giving. “A recent Omega, I gather. It must be something to have your life so greatly altered. I’ve heard of Oakley...it’s hard not to hear of a man who comes into a lot of money so naturally. His family’s want of connection was strong enough to foist him on you instead of your darling sister.”

He felt his cheeks grow hot. “Is our family’s business very well known in London?”

“Everyone’s family business is aired out in the papers these days.” He gestured around the room with his glass. “Even you aren’t safe--and only a cousin of a Duke with no title to your line. You’ve got blue blood like the rest of us and your marriage to some _nouveau riche_ is bound to cause a ruckus in town.”

His face and ears were aflame. “You embarrass me, sir.”

“He’s working, isn’t he? That is why he’s not here.” He leaned forward, taking another swallow of his brandy. “I will make you an offer, Oakley. I will give you my calling card and I will extend an open invitation. Should you find yourself rather lonely, I will take you to the opera. By the very nature of your marriage, I should say you will find yourself often without the company of your mate and clearly you’ve little in the way of friends.”

Jasper swallowed, uncertain even as he kept the man’s eyes with his own. “Why do you offer? What could you want to do with me?”

“I offer because you’re clearly out of your element. Where are all of your friends you had when you were a Beta? They’ve abandoned you simply because you’re now an Omega? Shameful. A bunch of wild young bucks, I suppose, talking about all the girls and now they think your sensibilities have changed so much that they no longer feel comfortable around you. I’ve seen this before and I’m no stranger to it. If you’re seeking normalcy, you’re looking right at it.”

“Perhaps they do not seek me out because they are afraid of my mate.”

He tilted his head a bit to agree. “Perhaps.”

“And you are not because you have some reason to think yourself beyond his reach? Does your nobility create an illusion of safety for you?”

He chuckled, his smile spreading into a toothy grin. “You tease me. I am well aware of how an Alpha might perceive me. But he can hardly object to the friendship of one so close to you in status and temper. After all, you are newly presented and you are far better suited to Beta-like tendencies.”

Rogueford was interrupted from further convincing by the announcement that supper was to be served and they were all corralled into the large dining room where, thankfully, Jasper was placed between two other gentlemen who very politely spoke to him about their hobbies--both of which were extremely boring and nothing like the scandalous suggestions Rogueford had been planting in his head. But then again, Jasper thought, it was not as though going to the opera with a friend was _particularly_ scandalous. It was only that he was absolutely certain that the man was not in anyway genuine in the assertion that his invitation was platonic in nature.

The thought itself was enough to cause a strange sinking feeling in Jasper’s guts and while his older gentleman dinner neighbor chatted pleasantly on about his rather dull collection of antique swords, the Omega’s eyes were scanning the table for Rogueford.

He was ushered up to join the other Omegas in the drawing room while the Alphas and Beta men were left for cigars and brandy and he was summarily left to his own devices when he was given sherry so he huddled into himself by the window. His head leaned against the frame and his eyes unfocused in his absolute boredom and no one bothered to speak to him until he heard that familiar tone again, soft and mild.

“Do you care for a stroll, Mr. Oakley?”

He blinked, finding Rogueford smiling pleasantly and innocuously, his hands behind his back. “It is still warm outside and the gardens are well-lit along the path. You seem rather bored over here by yourself and Omegas of the masculine sort are usually not suited toward being cooped up in stuffy drawing rooms. I daresay you’d like to get your legs moving and your blood pumping, isn’t that right?”

There was something hovering just beyond the meanings of his words and Jasper was curious. This Beta was something of an enigma and Jasper felt very much the explorer about to tread upon new lands. He offered his hand, uncertain at first but gaining in courage when he was outside with the man and along the garden path.

“It is nice to get away from all those scents about in there. Sometimes I think myself about to lose all my teeth for the room is so sweet,” Rogueford grinned, handsome in the torchlight.

“And so you bring an Omega with you?”

“Not any Omega. The _right_ Omega.”

They walked along together and Jasper noted that despite the warmth of the night, there was no one else in the garden. A touch of nervousness struck him. “Perhaps we should not lose sight of the doors…”

“You are not a debutante, Mr. Oakley.” He wandered beneath a wide swag covered in grapevines which would fully obscure them should Jasper join him. He pulled a simple little card from the pocket of his waistcoat and held it out. “My calling card. Forgive me that it has no scent upon it. I am very discreet.”

Jasper moved forward into the shadow of the swag, hidden from the house. He took the card between his fingers, trembling as he came into the circle of the Beta’s mild scent. “For what could you need to be discreet, my Lord?”

“You tease,” Rogueford chuckled, closing the distance between them. “A boy like you...an Alpha like yours. And yet you make me show my hand so quickly. I shouldn’t be surprised. You are a bold Omega, Mr. Oakley and you fair have me drooling over you for it. I cannot wait to discover everything else you have to offer.”

Jasper’s heart was beating hard as his head naturally turned to the side with Rogueford’s closeness. “You wouldn’t…”

“Oh... _I will_.” His touch was warm through his glove as he turned Jasper’s face and held his jaw, swooping down until he had touched his lips over the Omega’s, his kiss full and gentle and sweet--reminding Jasper that he had never once kissed his husband like this. But Warren didn’t inspire such feelings in him--such a wonderful nonsense emotion that bubbled and frothed and turned his insides to butterflies. He felt as though he might be Eve, partaking of the forbidden fruit.

Rogueford whispered against his lips. “You are such a delectable morsel, Mr. Oakley and left too long without affection, I see. You tremble in my grip. You find comfort in my touch. Have you such a foreboding mate? Have you no love in your life?” He kissed him again, deeper and with more fire, asking for entry with his tongue and groaning into Jasper’s mouth when the Omega permitted him. He probed him. He took him. He flaunted his sensuality and taunted Jasper’s sensibilities with it, inviting him to partake of this sinful affair.

The Omega raised up his hands, at first intending upon pushing the man away and then finding himself gripping at his arms while he was kissed deeply and passionately. Gooseflesh covered him and he could feel blood beginning to flow between his legs.

“ _Look at you,_ ” Rogueford whispered, moving him until his back was against the swag itself, the wooden slats hard against his back. “A saucy little thing so newly married and so utterly neglected. Only days out of heat and desperate for me. How could he leave you like this? So virile and so wanting? Not a very good Alpha, is he?”

“ _N-No…_ ” he sighed against the Beta’s mouth, feeling very wrong and yet very randy.

“I want to take you home with me. I want to tease you. I want to tempt you. I want to tell you sweet little lies and put my mouth on every inch of you. Would you like that? Little lies that make you bloom for me and entertain you in the deep, dark night so that you might think of me later when you’re home alone and touching yourself?”

“ _Y-Yes…_ ”

“Oh, you and I are going to have _such_ a time here in London, Mr. Oakley.”

“J-Jasper.”

“To your given name already? And here I thought you liked the sport of being called by your husband’s name. It conjures a certain... _danger_ , does it not?”

He was breathing too hard, wishing beyond anything that the man might smell his desire and reach down between his thighs and touch him. He’d never felt like this before, but conceded that once that barrier was breached by one man, he certainly couldn’t feel shy about it being eroded by another. Especially when it was this charming devil of a Beta who tempted him with pretty words and the promise of a life outside of Warren Oakley.

His words slipped out around his heavy breaths and he practically writhed under the man’s touch. “ _Please...please…_ ”

“ _Anything, Jasper...anything for you…_ ”

It was the first of many lies...but lies he very much would come to love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is **Ben.** The initial response to Ben is usually "Oh my god, I hate him." I want you all to know that this is natural. But I love him. _I love him so much._ Warren and Jasper **_are_** the endgame couple though. You can get attached to Ben though, I encourage it.
> 
> Please tell me your thoughts, whether you hate him, love him or what. I know Warren is a little hard to like so I have to keep you guys fed somehow in the middle of Warren doing his best Geralt of Rivia impression. **Hmm.**


	6. Chapter 6

It turned out that being married was not always some huge and imposing specter like Warren had often thought. He had thought that when he married Nora--as he had presumed would happen for much of his life--she would be around him all the time and that his world would shift so that he could accommodate her. He would take her to parties and small dinners when it was appropriate and she would hold his elbow and walk with him in the park. He would make time for her outside of his work and make very certain that all of her sexual needs were fulfilled so that they might conceive a child who could inherit his father’s business after him and be taught about investments and property and other boring things an Alpha learns from their father if their father was anything like Warren Oakley.

Being married to Jasper Wrightmore was far less _intimidating_ than he had previously assumed. Warren moved about London for work and when he came home, it was often night and the boy was either sitting in the parlor reading or was out, attending dinner, parties, or the many theatres scattered about the capital. They barely spoke and Jasper had little interest in how the household was run so he spent his days in his room or wandering about doing god-knows-what. Sometimes, when Warren knew that Jasper was at home, he peered at their adjoining door between the bedrooms and wondered if, perhaps, one day he might hear a knock upon it.

_Don’t be ridiculous,_ he reminded himself one night as he got ready for bed, _boys like that don’t want anything to do with men like you._

Norman usually avoided him, his loyalties still solidly in Jasper’s favor as he offered no information at all, even when he came to aide Warren in dressing. He had a severe manner about him and he did not seem in any way inclined to become closer to his new employer in the event that such a bond might make him less warm toward his true charge. It was understandable, Warren thought, and he dealt with it. Living with Jasper was much like living with a resentful relative and since the boy went out of his way to stay out of the way, it wasn’t as though there was anything particularly life-changing about his presence.

_If only this was a nominal thing. If only I wasn’t expected to sire a pup. If only his whole life had not been altered so deeply._

Norman came to him in his study to deliver his mail one morning and right on the top was an invitation to call upon a Lady Hayworth. Knowing that Lord Hayworth was quite savvy with business and that he was a close partner to Jasper’s distant cousin--the Duke--he was inclined to accept. It was that afternoon that he strolled into the lovingly decorated reception room at the Hayworth manor and found his hostess lounging on a settee, her hair immaculately pinned and her gown of the latest fashion.

“Tea, Mr. Oakley?”

“At only three?”

“Tea, then,” she smiled, shifting her gaze to a nearby maid who scurried out to fetch some. “Come and sit with me, Alpha.”

He peered about the room, finding them very alone. This was perhaps not the call that would allow him into Lord Hayworth’s acquaintance but it was a start, certainly. Charming the wives of his potential business partners had always been a sort of unique obstacle for him and Lady Hayworth’s sharp and shrewd eyes were unnerving him. He chose a seat across from her, his hands politely resting in his lap.

“It’s good to finally come into your acquaintance,” she began, “I thought perhaps you might have come around for some of the dinner parties for which you’ve received invitations but you are a busy man, I gather.”

He stared at her, seeking meaning in her words. “I apologize if I appear to be cold. I have little patience for many things.”

“You have enough patience to entertain me here.”

“I have the benefit of your close companionship here, my Lady. I am not beset by all kinds and instead have the luxury of privacy.”

Her smile just barely touched the edge of her mouth. “You are a mysterious man, Mr. Oakley. I am certain that you must feel some pressure from the ton who think your blood is insufficient...surely the thought that you might be slighted should not keep you from the drawing rooms.”

“I assure you, it is only that I am a man of little patience and less endurance when it comes to things that bore me.”

“I do not suppose, then, that you are the sort of man who might be interested in all the gossip that occurs about London’s ballrooms or dinner parties. You do not seem the type of man who entertains the notion that he might be mentioned in society’s papers.” She curiously stared at him, her head turned so that she might gaze upon him curiously.

“I cannot imagine why anyone would wish to write about me. I am a rather dull sort of Alpha.”

“With a very compelling little mate.”

This statement gave Warren pause and he must have blinked suddenly in reaction for she raised one brow, interested. The tea tray was rolled in around this time and so his hostess was busy with it, pouring him a steaming cup while he sat and contemplated her words. So Jasper, having gone out to dinners and parties and the like, was drawing attention. He supposed that should not have been surprising, as he was a male Omega. There were only so many around these days, though more than there used to be, and surely it must have been interesting for one to note the odd circumstances surrounding their wedding. Arrangements were not in vogue, after all, and Warren had been very clearly affectionate toward Nora beforehand.

Lady Hayworth sipped at her tea. “I only mention him because it is so surprising to me that your parents found fit to marry the both of you. You do not seem to have much in common whatsoever and surely they could have found a better manner in which to bind your two families. Do you not have an Omega sibling?”

“I am an only child, my Lady.”

“Ah...pity then. I have come to think that perhaps it would have been easier for your mate’s sister to find comfort with someone else.”

His brows tipped inward and the faintest emotion of indignation rose deep inside him. “Is it that I do not attend the theatre with him? I cannot think as to how it should be so obvious to someone who does not know me that my marriage is without comfort.”

“Then you do not deny it.”

“I wonder, my Lady, why there is so much interest in its merits. Is this meeting manufactured merely to pry up a board to discover the worms beneath? Is this all for the interest of the ton? Excuse me, I daresay I might not stay for tea.”

She was smiling now, fully. “Oh, you are truthful when you say you are not a patient man. I cannot fully mollify you, for the ton is very interested in all you have to say--however, I am a discreet woman and I ask purely for reasons to your own benefit, Mr. Oakley.”

“I cannot imagine how.” He was itching to stand. To never walk into this receiving room again even if it were to meet the Lord of the house. He was prickled and feeling very put out, his sensibilities mangled by a careless hand.

The Omega sighed deeply, peering at him as though studying him. “I have seen many a marriage curled at the edges under the heat of society’s flame...and the passions that burn within which are not sated by a spouse. You do not seem the sort of man who cares to know who comforts his husband though you do seem the sort who might find it useful information to carry.”

A pulsing bitterness was conjured as a white-hot orb in his stomach. “I feel almost accused of something.”

“That was not my intention. One cannot be expected to love a boy who has been foisted upon him.”

Warren was quiet for a small moment, staring at her and suddenly wishing he had never brought Jasper to London. He couldn’t think to drink the tea she poured for him and so it sat near to him, steaming much like he was.

The woman was not at all oblivious to his feelings. She could hardly miss them from his caustic scent. Still, she ignored it, still sipping her tea as though nothing were amiss. “If you would prefer not to know, that is perfectly acceptable. It is a courtesy I extend to let you know should you wish--”

“Why.”

She looked up at him with wide eyes.

“Why would you tell me? You’re an Omega. Are you not all in league with each other? Has he done something to offend you?”

“No, sweet boy, you’re a darling to think of it. I tell you because I have been advised of your character. Should I have reason to think you a cruel Alpha, I would not say a word.”

“How can you know me?”

“A magician never reveals her secrets.”

He felt distinctly vulnerable for a moment, working to relax his hands which had come to fists in his lap. “Am I at risk of something?”

“Only being publicly cuckolded. You’re not the first and you certainly won’t be the last. I tell you merely because I am interested in this marriage. I’d like to see it succeed.”

“It has already succeeded,” he grumbled.

“I would like to see it _blossom._ ”

He felt a coolness seep into his heart. “I have to be truthful to you, my Lady, I care not for how it blossoms or if it does at all. My husband has no interest in my affections--should there be any--and I’ve no interest in whose affections he covets.”

“Respectfully, sir, I do not believe you.”

“Believe what you will, my Lady. I think I will excuse myself. I do not have a taste for this sordid conversation...I do not think I have been in London long enough. Perhaps it is acquired.” He stood and gave her a solid bow.

“Should you feel differently about your circumstance in the future, dear Alpha, please do let me know.”

“Forgive me, Omega, but it is not upon my end that the will requires bending.”

“Yes, Alpha, but it is your end which bears the strength to bend.”

“Excuse me,” he grunted, turning about and storming off to the foyer, collecting his jacket from the footman near the door along with his hat and his stick. The air in London during this time of year left much to be desired but at the very least, he was no longer trapped with her sweet, smug scent and the spice of his own inadequacies and insecurities. He climbed inside his coach and instructed the driver to take him home, his frustrations easing about the time he stepped out again.

The absolute audacity of the woman still irked him. He’d not yet been married a month and he was already being lectured by the women of the ton. There was plenty that he knew they wanted to tell him about how he could satisfy his mate--a notion he was distinctly disinterested in. Jasper didn’t wish to be satisfied. Not by him, anyway.

_By some other man._

The idea left him feeling very broody and so he altered it for his own comfort.

_Perhaps a softer, Alpha woman._

He was assuaged by that thought, finding the idea of his husband finding a woman’s touch more comforting better than the idea that he could accept another man to his bed.

Upon entry to his home again, he was shocked to find that his nose had discovered a very familiar scent. He rushed to the parlor, his eyes finding her immediately and his heart leaping at the sight of her.

“Nora…”

“Warren…” She stood to greet him and he caught sight of Jasper beyond her, his face holding the vestiges of humor but at the presence of Warren, the emotion fading rapidly. “It’s good to see you. I see London has been very diverting for you...off for your visitations and the like.”

“Yes…”

Jasper stood, addressing his sister quietly. “I will visit you later, Alpha…”

She frowned at him. “You will not stay?”

“No...I do not think so.” Before either of the Alphas could resist, the boy was gone and they were left alone together as the late afternoon sun washed in through the window.

Nora looked at him, her thoughts clear on her face.

“Yes,” Warren told her simply, “We sleep in different rooms.”

She sighed.

“He’s…” He almost couldn’t tell her. But Nora knew everything about him. She knew his hopes, his dreams, and every single one of his fears. She knew him through his words, through his scent, and through his kiss. Holding back from her wasn’t something he thought he was capable of doing. She had always been his confidante. How could he think of her as anything else? “He’s having an affair.”

Nora blinked. “Excuse me?”

“An affair. I was just informed. By a very nosy little Omega woman I would not care to see again.”

“It’s hardly been a month...how could he have managed an affair?”

“He has been more industrious than I have, apparently. He’s out at parties and to the theatre...he must be attending with someone.”

“You did not discover their name?”

“I did not care to.”

Nora took a step toward him and then rethought her course, deciding instead to turn around and then turn around again, finally sitting at a loss. She shook her head, seemingly baffled. “I don’t understand.”

“Do not consider it over hard. He does not care for me. That society feels the need to latch upon something as though it is a scandal has naught to do with me. Should I feed their hungering mouths, they will draw out his shame. If he does not mind being vilified by the papers, he may have his lovers.”

“He may _not!_ ” she gasped. “He is bound to you Warren…”

“He will not be permitted a lover during his heats...that is all I care for.”

She stared up at him, pain in her eyes. “You cannot mean that. Is this what you hoped for when you married him?”

“It is less painful than you think.”

“ _Is it?_ ”

Warren came to her, sitting beside her on the settee she had collapsed onto. Close enough that their thighs brushed. “I love you, Nora. I have for years. I know you wish that I could simply shift that love to him...because it would make it easier for you. Because seeing me love him might help your own heart...because you want me to be happy…”

Tears gathered in her eyes. “Oh curse you, Warren Oakley, for knowing my heart.”

He reached for her hand and took it, squeezing it lightly. “I’m not going to stop him. I am not the sort of man who would begrudge a boy his pleasures merely for their effect upon my own convenience. He is unhappy. I cannot help that. It would be cruel of me to think that another should not try.”

“And yet you would never become unfaithful...not even to assuage your own unhappiness.”

He breathed, staring into her eyes and wishing he might get lost in them again. “No.”

Nora nodded, returning the squeeze of his hand. With a weak voice, she replied, “He does not deserve you, Alpha.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Slowly but surely, you're going to come to like this absolute walnut of a man. (Hopefully, anyway.)


	7. Chapter 7

He had felt his pulse quicken when Warren had walked into the room. It had been nice to see Nora. A familiar face that was not that of the disapproving Norman was welcome indeed and yet he knew immediately that something awful had shifted about when he saw Nora next. She came to him in his personal parlor--a place that Warren allowed all his own so that he would not be bothered--and her scent had altered profoundly. Her expression was that of a hidden horror and he stiffened in preparation for whatever it was she was about to say. She had always been a bit of a nag but now that she was an Alpha, it was nearly unbearable.

She began almost breathless, brandishing a finger at him as the door slammed shut behind her. She did not even bother to sit, her angered scent whirling about her in the room like some burning maelstrom of fire. “ _You!_ How could you?!”

Jasper did not reply. He would not have gotten a word in edge-wise, besides. She went on, her voice gaining a deep tone that betrayed the Alpha within her.

“One might think we’d sent you off to a nanny house rather than Eton for all you’ve done to yourself in town so far! You must think Warren to be a real Jack Adams, you...you _dirty little fool!_ ” She paced, her face flushed and her boots hard over the carpet. She stopped to look at him and then huffed again. “I can’t believe you’ve been so callous. I can’t believe--it’s been but a month! _A month!_ Already you’re out in London bring shame to your name. Shame to our family! To Warren!”

He could feel himself shaking and thought it must be absolutely ridiculous for him to do so. He was afraid of her. He’d never been afraid of her before. She was big and she was shouting and there was something in her scent that was putting him on edge. Would she hit him? Would his loving and sometimes overbearing sister Nora really strike him? He was trembling a fair amount and he could smell the sick bitterness in his scent that stemmed from the introduction of fear to its sweetness. Beyond fear, there was anger. A whole lot of anger, in fact, but it was held in check by his jittering and terrible reaction to her.

“What were you _thinking?! An affair?!_ You had best not begin thinking of yourself as some sort of _public ledger_ as you were certainly not raised to be someone’s mistress.” She blinked, as if the term she herself had stated had sparked some kind of a renewed fury in her heart. “To think that my own brother would do such a thing. Cuckolding his husband…my _best friend!_ ”

There was a long silence and Jasper could only imagine that Norman was at the door, standing near to it and shooing away anyone who might come to listen. It was not as though they would have to be just there. Nora was, in fact, very loud.

Her voice was softer after she took a few long breaths. “How many?”

He swallowed, peering up at her while still trembling greatly.

“I have asked you a question, Omega.”

“H...How m-many?” Confusion was seeping into him and thin threads of panic were starting to form when he couldn’t understand her inquiry.

“How many men have you slept with? How many beds have you been warming?” 

The gravity of her query was evident by the tears in her eyes and Jasper was at a loss again. He could not answer. He could not answer for he was not aware of any particular thing like this having occurred. He had _not_ been sleeping with any man. Rogueford had been his companion to the theater and the opera. He had been his escort to a few small parties and upon rides and strolls in the park but he had not become a bed companion.

_“Omega!”_ she thundered with her _Alpha_ voice and he stood suddenly, nearly falling over with the urgency of it. He stumbled to the side, knocking over the side table and sending a small statuette to the floor where it broke into several pieces. He continued to stagger, his heart in his throat and tears welling up in his eyes as fear clogged his sense. His head hit the wall and then the rest of his body did, the hard knock giving him just enough of a pain response to keep him moving when at the first, he thought he might crumple to the corner. Without thinking, he fell out the door, tumbling to the floor before he picked himself up clumsily and ran. The fear in him drove him forward as his heart threatened to hammer through his chest.

He was caught in his terror by the wrists and he tugged, his mind reeling and his body screaming with the need to _flee! Flee now!_ The vague recognition of Warren holding him by his arms did not aid in the attempt to become calm and indeed, he found that the presence of the very man his sister had accused him of cuckolding was honestly more than he could handle. He pulled at his arms and to his surprise, the Alpha let him go. He ran then to the door and swung it open, the air of London stagnant and oppressive but a far cry better than his sister’s potent rage or his husband’s heavy confusion and so he sprinted through it, hoping that surely no one could follow him.

It took him some time to calm himself down and by then, there was sweat formed over his brow from exertion. He very nearly wanted to pull off his cravat for his breathing was so labored, but he left it on, taking a small rest before he looked around himself and took stock of where he had ended up.

There was only one place he could think to go. That which had offered him stability and hope these past few weeks and that which he knew would be open to him.

_Rogueford._

He took his time to discover the direction in which he had to go and then he went, expertly remembering where he needed to turn, though he was at least once miffed that he had second-guessed himself as all the former times he had seen the man at his home were late in the evening at dusk or beyond. Still, by the time he arrived at his destination, he was as composed as possible though he imagined that his hair was at least a little tousled as he had gained a few odd stares from those passing by him.

Rogueford’s butler was unsurprised to see him, though the man was unsurprised by nearly anything, and led him into the receiving room. Jasper’s legs felt as though a thousand tiny insects were crawling around in them and so he did not sit but paced a little before he came to the side cupboard and poured himself a brandy. He barely had the first sip in his mouth before the smelled the comforting scent of the Beta from the doorway.

“Oakley, I had not expected you.”

He swallowed. “Please, pardon my intrusion...it is only that I’ve had a little shock and I’d nowhere else I thought to go…”

“Your brow…”

Jasper reached up, tenderly prodding at his forehead over his left eyebrow--the place he had hit it against the wall. “Oh...I must look a fright. No wonder everyone was giving me odd looks as I came here. I don’t have my jacket or my hat...I’m hardly fit to be out…”

Rogueford came to him, reaching out his hands until he could steady Jasper’s head, his gentle touch soothing as he took control and inspected his injury. “Did...did he harm you?” It was with an air of disbelief and truly Rogueford did not consider Warren to be capable of such an act.

“No. No...it was...I was clumsy.”

The Beta frowned at him, gently turning his head to gaze into his eyes for clarity. “Tell me the truth.”

Jasper sighed. “My...my sister is an Alpha now, as you know. She...yelled at me. I panicked and of course I fell right into the wall. It is nothing…”

“It was not your mate.” He appeared validated, nodding slightly as though he expected this answer.

“No...it was my sister. Big, bossy Nora...like always. Though now she has that _voice._ ” Ire bubbled up inside him. If Nora was bad before, she was downright dreadful now. Tall, looming, and willing to scream at him now with far more authority than she ever had before. It was unbelievable that she could do such a thing to him...that she could call him _Omega_ when she knew how he felt about it. How she could be so desperately out of touch with him. He sniffed. “She loves him. So she thinks he cannot do anything wrong. She wants him to be happy and she thinks…” he sniffed again, wiping his nose with his handkerchief. “She thinks that I ought to make him happy. And I think they ought to both go to the devil.”

Rogueford swiped his thumbs over Jasper’s cheeks, steadying him. “Has your husband ever demanded that you be responsible for his happiness?”

“Well...no.”

“Then your sister very well can go to the devil. Your husband, however...that remains to be seen.”

“She asked me how many men I’ve slept with. How many Alphas had taken my favors…” He couldn’t look at Rogueford’s face so he stared at the square of fabric poking out of his waistcoat pocket instead. “I had not known that merely being seen in town was going to subject me to this derision. And she asked me how I could but I should be asking her how _she_ could...how could she speak to me like this? How could she frighten me like she has? How could she…” He felt a tear loose from his eye and roll down his cheek, the warm wetness swiped away by Rogueford’s thumb.

“She worries for you.”

“She does no such thing. She worries for _him._ I’m an inconvenience to everyone and how dare I try to be happy...how dare I try to make the most of my circumstances…” He drew in a stuttering breath and reached out, finding himself drawn into a warm and giving embrace. His face was tucked against Rogueford’s shoulder and he gave off a few small sobs while he gripped at the back of the man’s brocade waistcoat.

“ _Shhh...you’re alright._ ”

“I don’t...I don’t want to go back.”

“And you don’t have to. I’ll cancel all my plans for today and you and I can simply have some calming tea, and be quiet for a while. How’s that sound?”

Jasper held him tighter. “I’ve not even slept with another man…”

Rogueford’s hand was on his head, petting over his hair while he shushed him sweetly. “It is enough to be seen with a notorious rake like myself. I did tell you that, did I not? At least once, perhaps...that time we went riding? Not to mention that I have kissed you plenty. Gracious, that I’ve spent so long kissing you without spreading you out beneath me--it is rather unlike myself. It is only natural that the gossips of the ton have thought we’ve already _made a stitch_.” 

Jasper couldn’t help himself but to let out a little ring of laughter at that and he pulled away from the Beta, wiping at his eyes with the heel of his palm. “Yes...yes...you did tell me that. But I have so liked your kisses, how could anyone blame me for having indulged? That you are notorious can only mean that you are practiced and the fruits of your labor are before you now. I have nowhere else to go and kisses now are all that could soothe me…”

Rogueford turned his head to give Jasper an amused little frown. “You are a naughty thing.”

“Kiss me…” Jasper asked, his hands at the Beta’s waist. “Lie to me all prettily like you do…”

Rogueford seemed to consider him for a few moments, his eyes narrowed and his brows knitted. Jasper was just about to think that perhaps the man would refuse when he stepped forward, his expression softening as he leaned in. For all their kisses, Rogueford’s lips were soft and giving and this one was no different, the play of the Beta’s skill over his mouth sending blood rushing between his thighs.

“Mmm…” Rogueford groaned. “You are so sweet, Jasper…” 

Rogueford’s arms came around him again and Jasper leaned into the hold, eager to press his lips into another breath-stealing kiss. Never in his life did he ever entertain the notion that kissing a man would be so pleasurable but the more he did it, the more he wanted it, and Rogueford was a very patient and conscientious teacher. The Beta pressed and pulled and tugged and coaxed until Jasper was sitting with him on the settee, each kiss steaming his blood even further than it was already. In the back of his mind, he wondered if Nora would find him here. If the butler would come in at any moment and announce that she had arrived. Still, he could not stop himself. He was drunk upon these kisses and so much so that when Rogueford placed a warm hand on the top of his thigh, he did not shy from him, making only a small squeaking sound at the way his stiff little member hardened further at the touch.

The Lord’s whisper into his mouth was almost lost in another kiss. “ _Jasper...you are driving me insane…_ ”

He hummed his chuckle. “I daresay that you are the last person I should wish to drive to the brink of madness. I should hate to lose you to Bedlam.”

“You shall if all I am permitted is a kiss when you are here smelling how you are.” He kissed him again, slowly and pausing at the end with his forehead pressed intimately against Jasper’s as he awaited a response.

“What...what do you suggest?”

He was breathless, his mild scent spiced with his own excitement. “Let me love you, Jasper. Let me hold you…”

Jasper instinctively shied back, nervousness thrumming suddenly inside him at the concept of being held.

Rogueford sensed his unease immediately. “It will not be like an Alpha holding you. In fact, it should be nothing like your husband at all. Has he ever put you in his mouth? Your little cock? I’d like to do that...and then, perhaps, after you’ve sweetened my tongue with your spend, I should find my pleasure with you…”

“...w-with me?”

He was grinning, clearly amused. “I will not enter you if you do not wish it. I would not ever force myself upon you.”

His unease was soothed at least a little and he peered at Rogueford sheepishly. “But you will...you will...tell me sweet little lies, will you not?”

“Of course I will. You do like those little lies I tell you.”

He flushed, his cheeks a deep pink. “Yes...very much…”

His eyes were filled with kindness even as his scent was lustful. “Then I will tell you as many as you wish before I take you in my mouth...perhaps you will permit me to play with parts of you that you’ve not had touched before...perhaps you will let me teach you…”

“In your bed?”

“Yes.”

He thought for a moment, his bottom lip between his teeth. “H-How many Omegas have you…”

“Seduced? Many. All married. At current? You’re my only.”

“Is that a lie?”

“No.” He gave a small pause and then leaned forward, smirking conspiratorially. “But _that_ might have been.”

He couldn’t help but give up a little giggle, stowing the thought as he gave his hand, allowing the Beta to lead him from the parlor, their journey a path up the stairs and into the eastern wing of the house to a bedroom at the end of a hall. Jasper looked about, finding it cozy but not lived-in. “This...isn’t your bedroom.”

“No...it is one I thought you would like. I never sleep with my lovers in my own room. It seems overly personal. I hope you do not mind.”

“No, of course not.”

“You’re still nervous. Let me call for some sherry...we seem to have misplaced your brandy.”

He couldn’t deny that he was nervous. What sort of strange acts would happen here? What kind of things could a boy do when he wasn’t in heat? He let the Beta lead him to a small chair next to the bed and before he could sit, the man rang the bell cord and a servant arrived. Jasper tried to make himself very small where he stood but the servant did not even spare him a glance as they took the order for sherry and left again. By the time it was delivered, Rogueford had pressed him down into the chair and had sought to remove his cravat, his fingertips smoothing over the soft flesh of Jasper’s throat.

“He did not mar you where it would be readily seen. A gentleman, your husband.”

“I don’t want to talk about him.”

“Then we will talk about something else.”

“Tell me…”

Rogueford knew what he wanted and he sank to his knees before him, his eyes half-lidded and his lips soft and moist as he reached to unfasten Jasper’s trousers, his hands roving over the inside of his thighs over the fabric to stimulate his arousal further. “ _I’m going to buy you pearls, little Jasper. I’ll make you wear them while you’re naked and roll them between my teeth when I have you in my arms._ ” He pulled at the Omega’s trousers, dragging them down with his undergarments until his small cock was free and stiff in the warm air. “ _I’ll buy you a house in town...a towering black horse so handsome that all will look at his gleaming coat as you trot by in the park…_ ”

He leaned back his head, baring his throat to the Beta and closing his eyes, unwilling to see how the man might perceive his masculine organ. He gasped when he felt the man’s breath upon it and he jerked in surprise when he felt the brush of a kiss over the tip. “ _My...my Lord!_ ”

“ _Perhaps,_ ” he sighed, his breath lingering over the turgid flesh of Jasper’s manhood, “ _I will take you to Paris. I will build you a library. A huge library with so many books from all over the world…_ ” It was the last thing he said before Jasper felt a warm, wet heat descend over his cock, the sensation blurring out all else as his breath caught in his throat.

“ _Uhk!_ ” His knees fought against his trousers to open further and Rogueford aided him, pulling them down further so that the boy might open his thighs and allow him more room.

The Beta swallowed him down easily, his warm hands holding Jasper’s hips to keep him from thrusting while he licked and suckled and bobbed, his mouth providing an incredible suction and the further stimulation of erotic sound. He did not have to work very long, his saliva coating the Omega’s flushed member as the boy writhed in his seat, the sounds from his throat a combination of whimpered mewling and breathless keening.

His climax rushed over him and his hand found Rogueford’s hair just before, gripping him and praying that the man would not leave him until he came. The gratification was overwhelming as he twitched with his spending, his belly tensing in tight contractions as the whole of his emission was greedily swallowed by a preening Beta. He barely knew what to think before he was gently stripped and offered a glass of sherry. Despite being naked, he felt as though his release had somehow drugged him with a flood of relaxation. After all, how could a man feel conscious about his body when the only other with him had just taken him out of his mouth? He sipped his sherry, his cheeks still aflame with his passion as he trembled in his chair and Rogueford disrobed.

“I gather that you’re not at all averse to that…” the man said, his tone rather cheeky. “Do you trust me?”

“F-For what should I trust you? Have you...have you thought again about what you might wish to do to me?”

“No. I will not enter you. Not until you’re ready for that. But I should like to show you something.”

Jasper stood, curiously, finding his knees weak. He was invited onto the bed and so he finished his sherry first. His inspection of the Beta was cursory but he liked what he saw. Betas, as a matter of course, were slimmer than most Alphas, their shoulders not so wide and their features not so prominent. This Beta was built finely, still well-muscled but cat-like in his movements and lithe of limb. He was far smaller than Warren in many ways and thankfully in the one fashion that most counted. Rogueford naturally found it amusing that Jasper was casting curious glances upon him and paused where he knelt on the bed, his arms splayed out loosely.

“Look at me, little Jasper. Do not be shy. I am a decent-looking man and I’ve weathered plenty of appreciative stares.”

He rolled his eyes, humor welling up. “Yes and you are also quite modest.”

“Good of you to notice. Lie on your back, sweeting, and I’ll do the rest.”

Nervously, Jasper did as he was asked and watched the man procure a lubricant from the drawer of a side table, dribbling it over his fingers before he spread the Omega’s legs and spread it over the inside of the boy’s thighs high up near his _tackle_ , the brushes just brusque enough not to become ticklish--that was, before he spread a little bit more on the space just behind Jasper’s sack. He giggled a bit at the brush of fingers and the Beta paused, staring down at him with an affection glimmering in his eyes.

“Do I tickle you? Graces, your charms are unending. I can hardly witness such a darling little face like yours without keeling over from my passions. How could I be expected to leave all you sweet married Omegas to yourselves when you look at me like this from my pillows after I’ve sucked you to spend?”

He could hardly listen to such lewd things in relation to himself and so he covered his face with his hands. “You truly are a rake, sir!”

Rogueford took both his ankles and lifted his legs together, holding his ankles in one hand and tucking them in the slope of his shoulder, easing his way into place so that he could slide his manhood into the space between Jasper’s thighs that was now well-oiled. “Of course I am. And I’ve no small means by which I can pleasure us both without ever breaching you. I’ve had a great many lovers who saved such a special manner of intimacy for their mates.”

Jasper quieted, contemplating the pressure and the slide of the man through his thighs as he gently moved to thrust.

“You have an interesting scent,” the Beta told him, still rocking back and forth with his hips. “Tell me what I’ve said.”

Jasper sighed. “It is not that I wish to save intimacy for him...I think that it is that I did not enjoy it… It was that I was mad with heat...without heat...what should I think of it?”

“Well you do not have to explore that if you do not wish to. I, myself, have been penetrated, and--”

“You’re a Beta,” Jasper blurted with alarm.

“Yes. I am. And as a Beta, I assure you, I am greatly able to feel the prick of pleasure that stems from a dalliance of the like. A good Saint George never harmed a man like me.”

“Saint George?”

“Yes,” he grunted, still thrusting between Jasper’s thighs, his cheeks ruddy with pleasure, “It is when you sit astride a gentleman and slot his pole right into you. With enough lubrication, it can be very stimulating.”

“I thought you only seduced Omegas.”

“I have severely misrepresented myself. Every so often, an Omega’s mate takes objection to their activities with me. Sometimes such a man can only be escaped. Other times, an Alpha’s frustration can be soothed.”

Jasper’s jaw opened wide in disbelief but was quickly shut when Rogueford grunted his release, his come spreading out in a hearty rope of milky white over the Omega’s belly. He hardly knew what to say to such a confession, finding the thought of a man like Rogueford allowing an Alpha to dominate him both shocking and... _arousing._

The Beta chuckled. “Ah...I smell that you’ve found that small bit of information about me pleasing. If it helps you become randy, be certain to think of it often. I’ve always enjoyed my deviant little romps with the more dominant mates. Usually they simply take me like I’ve just taken you, but sometimes they desire more.” He let Jasper’s legs part and come around him before he cleaned up his seed and loomed over the Omega’s form where he lay among the pillows. He laid a gentle kiss over Jasper’s lips and only deepened it a little before he rolled over to the side, peering very warmly at him.

Naked, content, and sated, Jasper peered right back at him. “Are you...going to make me leave?”

“Leave? You only just arrived.”

Comforted, he smiled and turned to his side toward where Rogueford lay, curling a bit. “Will you lie to me again?”

Rogueford’s smile was wide. “ _I love you, little Jasper._ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Ben is a ho._
> 
> God, I love him.


	8. Chapter 8

He had expected Nora to be at least a small bit embarrassed by him when he came to her and looked at her how he had. Instead, she seemed only indignant, her eyes challenging him in a way that he had only before seen in other Alphas. Nora. His Nora. An Alpha. Truly. Such a thought stung him and he nearly lost what he was going to say to her. Gathering himself, he straightened to his full height, still impressive to her moderate size.

“Nora. I thought I was very clear.”

She was flustered though not by him, rather by whatever had transpired in here previous to his arrival. Her obvious dressing down of her brother. “You do not understand, Warren.”

“I think it is you who does not understand. My marriage is none of your concern.”

“I was going to _be_ your marriage!”

“And had you been, then my marriage would be very much your primary business. As it is, you are not my wife. I told you that I would not stop him. That I wanted him happy. And you’ve immediately gone against my wishes and driven him out of my house. Where do you think he’s gone, Nora? To the barber?”

Tears formed and glittered in her eyes. “We have to stop him.”

He put out an arm to block her from the door though she hadn’t moved. “We will do no such thing.”

“But Warren…”

He tried to look at her sympathetically. He tried to see her as the girl he fell in love with. She looked the same. Her face, her eyes, the way her body moved. Nothing about her was different save the trousers and...and _the manner of an Alpha._ “Nora. Please listen to me.”

“No, Warren,” she told him, blinking away her tears. “You cannot let him do this! He’s throwing your kindness back in your face. He’s bringing shame to your name. He cannot do this to you and expect no consequence. He has always been like this. You do not know him. Love him, I may, but I do not have to accept that he is a spoilt child!”

He came to her, his hands to her upper arms while he held her so that she might not turn away from him. “Are you his ruling Alpha, Nora?”

“N-No…”

“Then what say do you have in his life?”

She was at a loss then, staring up at him uselessly.

“Answer me, Nora.”

“...I...none.”

“How long have you wished to tell him exactly how you felt about him? How long have you waited for a moment to take out all of your frustrations upon him? For so long, you have been the girl upon whom the expectations were laid and he was a boy who had the world at his feet. Now that your positions are opposite, you chose not to aide him but to berate him? For what? For _coping?_ ”

“ _Warren…_ ” she breathed, her eyes again filling with tears at his calm tone. Perhaps shouting at her would have been easier for her to handle. But Warren had been shouted at enough in his life, he did not need more of it to come from his own mouth. “He’s disrespecting you.”

“I believe you’ve made a mistake in thinking that his actions could be any more degrading to me than yours.”

“What…?”

“You are an _Alpha_ , Nora. And not only in name. You ignored my wishes for _my own mate_ and trampled all over every fragile thread of my marriage in my own house and yet you claim this to be in my interests. As though you are some shining knight come to rescue me. I do not need rescue. I am not in peril.” He stared at her, his scent undulating between rage and sympathy. “I need you to leave.”

“ _Warren…_ ” she tried again.

“Leave, Nora. I will wait for him to come back. Do not try to find him. He will return on his own. If you disobey me in this, you may not return here.”

She drew up, a small surprised gasp forming in her lungs. When he let her go, he thought that perhaps she might lose strength in her legs but she remained upright, pausing to consider him before she rushed past him, brushing him roughly as she went. He heard her stomp through the hall and, distantly, heard the slam of the front door.

The house was quiet, then. Almost supernaturally so.

He waited there for longer than he could admit, staring at the space she used to stand. Could that have gone differently? Could he have handled it better? No. There wasn’t enough patience in him to consider how he might have salvaged whatever was left of what they were. They weren’t anything. They had ceased to become something when Nora had presented as an Alpha and it was better for everyone should he simply accept it. It was shocking to see her like this. Defiant. Willful. _Alpha._

It was likely just as shocking for her to realize that her brother was just as much an Omega as she was an Alpha. Though, she hadn’t seemed repentant at all. He’d bolted into Warren’s hands like a frightened deer, his pupils blown and a red mark on his head from some unknown injury. Ruffled and frightened, he’d torn from Warren’s grip and run from him. Run from this. Everything.

Hopefully, Warren thought, he would find comfort at least. He would come back.

Nora wouldn’t.

The unnatural quiet of his house seemed then like a weight on his shoulders and he walked to the side cupboard, procuring the whole decanter of whiskey before he took it to his study and set it on his desk. There were plenty of letters to write. Business to conduct. He struck that last thought from his mind. There would be no business today. The only thing he would be doing was writing a letter to his mother and then drinking himself into a stupor.

A crushing loneliness gripped him and held him and cradled him like an old, familiar friend. When he’d been a boy, there had not been the warmth of drunkenness to soften the cold fingers which held him. He poured himself a glass and sat in his comfortable leather chair, pulling out a bit of parchment and opening his ink. His mother did not have to be told of everything explicitly. She would know anyhow just from the manner of his words--from the formation of his thoughts. She would discover him like she discovered everything; fine-tuned senses made for seeking out every meaning to avoid that which caused her pain.

By the time he was finished with his letter to her, his first glass of whiskey was gone and he had poured another. He sat back in his chair and settled his eyes upon a point in the middle distance and sipped until his second glass was gone as well.

His third was interrupted in the middle by a discreet knock upon his door. He wondered what time it was. He hoped that it was at least evening but he couldn’t know. The world around him had gained a haziness he welcomed.

“Enter.”

Norman’s sedate expression was distinctly comforting and Warren couldn’t put his finger on exactly why. “The menu has been planned for next week and awaits approval.”

“You’re not my housekeeper.”

“Your housekeeper would never use this flimsy excuse to come into your study and ask you what your intentions are toward your spouse.”

Warren sniffed in amusement. “You knew.”

“Of course I knew. How could I not? I recognize that you could toss me out on my ear and replace me with someone far more loyal to you--”

“I won’t.”

Norman studied him before he looked down to the floor, his hands clasped behind him, his stance proper and dignified. “He’s a difficult boy…”

“He’s doing what he can. I won’t punish him. He’s done nothing that warrants it. Should my mother have been able to do the same, she would have. She would have been happy. I would have given anything to see her happy. Do you understand, Norman?”

He nodded slightly, relief stark in his scent. “I do, sir.”

Warren sighed long, his breath strange in his lungs as the whiskey warbled the world. “I do not need him to feign caring for me. I only need him to be…” He rubbed at his eyes with his free hand. “Discreet. And...safe.”

“I will try harder.”

As much as he had fought against the notion earlier in the day, he was overcome now by his drunken thoughts. “Who is it?”

“I beg pardon, sir?”

“Who is Jasper seeing?” He let his hand run through his hair. “No...do not tell me. No--do tell me. God. I cannot know what I want.” He laughed humorlessly.

“Forgive me, sir. I will withhold it if I can.”

“Do so,” he muttered, glowering at his bookshelves. “I cannot trust myself.” He took another gulp, emptying his glass before he set it down and eyed the decanter. “It is not that I wish for vengeance. It is only that there is an Alpha pride in me I cannot quash. I want him happy and there is an animal inside me that insists I do not allow for it. For what? For _pride?_ ” He reached for the whiskey, pouring another. “I am…” He looked at the amber liquid and set down the now-empty decanter, the wind taken out of his sails. “...loathsome.”

“You are a kind man and a good Alpha.”

He laughed again, regarding Norman with a hard incredulousness. “Kind of you to say. You’ve already got my approval for your misdeeds. You need not flatter me.”

“You have shown your mate an incredible amount of understanding, sir, when the whole of the world has shown him none, myself included. You have been gravely wronged by him. Your restraint is...inspiring.”

“I would be well within my rights to pull him over my knee.” He chewed his bottom lip. “But that would not fix anything.” His voice lowered thoughtfully, “For the life of me, Norman...I cannot see anything quite broken here.”

Norman sighed. “If you will allow a further breach of my station…”

“Do it. I cannot be bothered to think of it.”

“There is plenty broken here, Alpha. It is only that you have yet to peer at it through a mirror.”

“Then you are of the same opinion as Nora. That he has harmed me.”

Norman shifted a bit, uncomfortable. “If he has not, he has done nothing to help you.”

“Ah. So I was broken before. That is not such a difficult stretch for me to acknowledge. Though an Alpha does hate to be so transparent. Approve the menu, Norman.”

“Will you come to supper or shall I have it brought in to you?”

“Have it brought. And when your master comes home, send him to me here. I would speak to him.”

Norman bowed and slipped out, a shadow with no sound. At the very least, the man could rest easy knowing that Warren would not harm his little charge and that itself was a small victory for the whole of the household.

It was late when Warren heard another knock on his study door. This one was soft and tentative and he was certain that it was Jasper having been told to come to him. In course of a moment, Warren wondered what he might smell like. If he had bathed before he had left his lover’s home or if Norman had made him change his clothes. He bade the boy to enter and tried not to appear overly foreboding when he met the wide, pensive eyes of his mate. His movement into the room was like that of a frightened doe, peering at the Alpha as though he may pounce at any moment.

 _Ah. He was not washed._ A shred of something that felt like relief flooded through him at the scent of an unfamiliar Beta. _At the very least, it is not a man who will challenge me._ _If he is a man at all._ He gestured toward a chair he had pulled up for the boy to sit in on the other side of his desk and Jasper came to it, his hand on the back of it and his mind obviously racing. He didn’t want to sit.

“I’m not going to punish you,” Warren told him plainly.

He was unconvinced but he moved to sit, his rump settled on the edge of the seat as though he might flee at any moment. The paleness to his face and the fear in his scent and his eyes were overly familiar to Warren, as he had seen them in his own young face when his father was finished with him. _It is this damned desk,_ he thought savagely. He very slowly stood and moved around from behind it, sighing as he sank to his knees, sitting back on his boots in a position surely the Omega had never before seen an Alpha take. Jasper’s eyes were wide and searching, his posture rigid and wary.

“He is a Beta.”

Jasper was clearly terrified suddenly.

“It is alright. You can tell me.”

A small nod and a glance toward the door.

“Good. You are expected to be in my bed for your heat if another comes. When you see him, you are to take the unmarked coach and you are to use the back door and come home before dawn. Do you understand?”

Another small nod, confusion etched into his features.

“He is to be your only lover. You will never have more than one at a time. I prefer Betas as they are far less volatile but I will, ultimately, leave your preferences up to you. You will not arrive at parties with them though you may go to parties where they are attending. If you wish for me to come with you to an event, I prefer that they have not accepted an invitation. I do not wish to cross paths with them.” He paused, looking at Jasper’s expression to check again if he understood. “These are my only guidelines for you as yet, though they are subject to change. Should you violate them knowingly and with malice, I will seek a divorce no matter the expense. Am I clear?”

Jasper was plainly miffed by these rules set for him and he broke eye contact, turning his head to the side as his scent gained a spice of disapproval.

“Jasper…”

The sound of his name drew his eyes again.

“I abide by your rules within our marriage bed and you will abide by mine outside of it.”

Here, the boy managed to find his tongue. “And you? Will you abide by these same rules or is it just the _Omega_ who is shamed by them?”

Warren stared at him seriously. “Should I take a lover, I will certainly abide by the same. Does that comfort you?”

He thought for a moment, his soft lower lip sticking out a bit and alarming Warren by inciting thoughts of nibbling it.

_Good lord, leave the poor boy alone. He’s just come back from the bed of his lover and he smells of Beta and...satisfaction. What is it about this scene that would make me have such a thought?_

He stood, seeking to end his odd musings with movement. “If you’ve nothing else on your mind about this arrangement, you are free to go.”

“M-May I...may I still go to the opera with him?”

The Alpha saw a clear longing in his eyes. “You should arrive separately.”

Jasper nodded with understanding before he stood from his seat, his scent still wary but placated nonetheless.

Warren, alone again, heard the odd silence of his home and felt the cold fingers take him once more. There was no more whiskey and his haze had not the longevity to soothe him now. He went to his room, eager to put the day behind him even as the wide emptiness of his bed swallowed him whole.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warren: "Might as well wallow in the misery I've created for myself."
> 
> At least Nora's gone. What a butt.


	9. Chapter 9

It was days since Nora had used her voice on him and still, that was not even what his mind chose to pick apart in the quiet moments. It was not the way Nora’s face had appeared so utterly disgusted by him or the manner in which her voice had thundered out of her throat. It was not anything to do with Nora whatsoever.

The sheets rustled beside him and Rogueford--Ben--was looking at him, his eyes heavy-lidded and shining. “You’re thinking about it again.” He was far too handsome for his own good, Jasper had decided, and it was even more apparent now when he was lit by the very low lamplight from the bedside table, the warmth playing over the planes of his face and the soft flesh of his shoulders and chest which were revealed by the sheet.

Jasper sighed, choosing to stare upward toward the ceiling. “I’ve no idea why it sticks so terribly in my head. It was simply the manner in which he said it, I think.”

“Hm.”

“You’re not at all interested in this, I know.”

Ben shrugged, sleepy after having achieved his own climax between Jasper’s thighs. He’d yet to broach the subject of penetration again and seemed very content to pleasure Jasper with his hands and his mouth before taking his own pleasure in the relatively subdued fashion from their first encounter. He reached out and touched at the Omega with his gentle fingertips. “It is not uncommon for Alphas to set boundaries they feel are reasonable for their spouses…”

He took Ben’s hand, pulling it to his chest and squeezing gently. “I suppose I thought it might be a secret.”

“An open secret,” the Beta replied, pattering his free fingertips over Jasper’s chest. He lifted himself up just enough to shift over to the Omega and lowered himself down for a kiss, his lips very tender in the application. He lingered a bit, doling out those amorous blessings generously before he whispered against Jasper’s lips. “It is a little thrill for some...that their husbands know… Oft, it is a thrill for the _husband._ ”

He smiled, doubtful, “How could a husband think it a thrill?”

“One never knows what will tickle a man’s fancy. Are you tired, little Jasper?”

“No.”

“Mmm, even after all the pleasure you’ve enjoyed...do you think you might wish to come again?” He was grinning like a cat.

“I shouldn’t wish to be a burden.”

He laughed. “I’ll make you come and never move from where I lay. You underestimate my experience in the matter. Turn yourself over, darling, I should like to kiss your little rump.”

Jasper turned, laying his head down on his fluffy pillow, sighing as decadent kisses were administered to his lower back, nibbling and sweet and working down until they were against the meat of his backside. Blood had begun to pool again between his legs and he could feel himself stiffen while his breath quickened in his lungs. “Mmm…” he tried. “Why do you know just what to do to a boy? It is as though instead of embroidery in your spare time, you’ve dedicated yourself to...”

“The art of pleasure,” Ben replied, his breath hot over the flesh of his bottom. “That’s exactly what I do. Now, the next thing I want to hear out of your sweet little mouth is a pleasured cry.” He chuckled at himself and then ran his tongue along the crease between Jasper’s rump and thigh, kissing him in the space it ended, just next to the place Jasper feared.

“ _Mmn…_ ”

“Not pleasured enough,” Ben told him, his hands moving to gently pull Jasper’s bottom from either side so that he might look straight at the entrance of him. “What a darling little sight I behold here. Mmm and you smell so sweet. The lavender in your bath water complements your scent so perfectly.” He dipped and Jasper felt shock rip through him when Ben’s mouth touched him _there_.

“ _Uhn!_ ”

There was no comment about this sound as Ben was too engrossed in his task--that of kissing and licking in Jasper’s most secretive of places. Jasper could feel the insidious pleasure of it, luminous and sweeping through his body in waves of pulsing light. Heat suffused his cheeks and sent ripples throughout his being and he could not stop the slow movement of his hips even as Ben held him down. Time seemed to draw on as he became increasingly mindless, his little cock straining against the silk sheets, searching for sensation with every twitching movement born from the startling pleasure of his lover’s mouth and tongue over his sensitive little opening.

Jasper knew he was making lewd sounds, the keening cries lost upon a lover who had heard them all before. “ _Uhn! Uh! Mmmnnngh!_ ”

With an erotic sound, Ben kissed him one last time before he departed, sitting up a bit and allaying Jasper’s worries by sliding his fingers against the damp place his mouth had left. “Oh, you are in for a little treat, Jasper dear,” he teased. “So close to the edge right now and about to pitch right over it.”

He barely heard the man speak, the meanings to his words registering in his lust-filled mind just before he felt the painless breach of Ben’s fingers inside him.

“ _Auhn!_ ”

Those fingers moved inside him, curling expertly until they had brushed a point of considerable thrill and then, without warning, moved very quickly in expert thrusts until he was fair screaming with his delight, tears coming to his eyes as the profound and sudden explosion of pleasure sent him reeling, his body writhing with orgasm. He gave out small leftover gasps and cries as he tried to regain his bearings, his lover’s fingers still buried inside him deeply while his other hand laid upon Jasper’s back, swiping over him in a calming motion while he trembled and panted.

Ben’s voice was soothing and low, too mild for the acute disturbance he had caused within Jasper’s mind and body. “This is why I adore Omegas. You’re all so wonderfully sensitive. Some mates know how to touch you to make you fall apart like this but when they don’t...oh you all find your way to me eventually…”

“ _Oh god…_ ” Jasper gasped, still twitching in the aftermath. “ _Hunh…_ ”

Ben slowly removed his fingers and slid from his bed, washing up in the basin before he poured two glasses of sherry and brought one back. “You are a marvelous creature. Come. Drink your sherry. It will stop the tremors.”

He could barely move. His hands seemed to be embedded in the sheets and his legs from his hips down felt entirely as though they were made of pork jelly. Still, he managed, wiping the tears from his eyes and his cheeks as he shakily sat up and pulled the sheets up over himself as he sat among the pillows. He took his sherry and sipped it, watching the liquid move in the glass as his hand shook.

Ben was decidedly blasé about the whole affair and he smiled wide while taking gulps of his own sherry. “After you’ve recovered, I’ll nip off a few kisses all over you and then snuggle you until you fall asleep. You’ve got to get in a few hours before I wake you to go home, after all.”

It took him a few moments to gather himself, his heart thudding hard in his chest but slowing with each second which passed. “Is...is that what it would feel like if...if you…”

“Not quite so exciting. I can’t make my cock do the same thing my hand can, unfortunately. I’ve heard there are some men with a more intense bit of curve to them who might have a chance but I daresay, I’m not so blessed.” He grinned devilishly. “Still, it is enjoyable. If you’re keen to have me inside you, perhaps we’ll wait until the next time we meet...it will leave you with something to look forward to.”

“I...I also thought…” he mumbled a bit with his lips against the rim of his glass. “That I might...try…”

Ben peered at him curiously, his expression that of blank politeness.

“...putting you in my mouth. Just to. To see how it is.”

The Beta’s smile was warm and sweet. “You do not have to do that, little Jasper. And if you do wish to do it, I will coach you but you shan’t ever think yourself obligated. If you do not like putting a man in your mouth, you shouldn’t ever force yourself to do it.”

“It is that you do it to me so often and…”

“And you think I would like it?”

“Well yes…”

Ben sniffed and chuckled. “I do not put you in my mouth as a loan you must pay back. I suck your little cock because I like to do it...not for any other reason. Do you understand? You will never owe me anything, darling.”

For some reason, he had grown accustomed to Ben calling him _darling_ and could not help but come to enjoy it. It had been nearly a week and he was growing more and more restless, knowing that soon another heat would be upon him. He wanted to find himself not in his mate’s bed but in his lover’s. A kind touch, a knowing presence, and those delicious, delicious lies.

_I’ll build you a library._

_I’ll take you to Paris._

_Would you like a dog, sweeting? We’ll have the most darling of dogs._

_Books, any book you’d like. Trips to the countryside. Kissing in the clover._

He finished his sherry and let Ben kiss him sweetly and whisper those familiar little promises in his ear as he drifted off into nothingness. When he woke and dressed and traveled back home just as the first light of dawn was touching the sky, he slipped into his own cold bed and wondered just how he might get away with it. Perhaps, he thought, he would not have to worry about it after all.

_I could be pregnant now._

He wanted to ignore that particular thought and so he discounted it and slept well into the day.

As much as he liked the thought of finding Ben again rather sooner than later, events would conspire against him as for the next morning, he was confronted by Warren’s request that he might accompany the Alpha to a small dinner, provided that Jasper determine whether or not his lover was attending. When it was discovered that Rogueford had not received an invitation to the event, Jasper was expected to go.

He did not particularly enjoy being made to accompany Warren anywhere but when he did come down the stairs to meet him in the foyer, he was surprised when the Alpha was holding out a box for him.

He stared at it blankly.

Warren opened the top of it, revealing a dark-colored capelet embroidered with gold thread. “Your evening wear is tidy but fit more for a Beta. I thought perhaps this might complete your dress without the usual flounce and feathers.”

“How...thoughtful…” In reality, he wasn’t certain what to make of it. He wasn’t used to the idea of a man buying him clothes, though he _was_ the Alpha’s mate and he had yet to do the usual thing Omegas did with their husband’s money and go immediately to the _modiste_. He allowed Warren to place it over his shoulders and fasten it at his neck, trying not to linger on the idea of the man’s fingers brushing his collarbone.

_His hands are so big…_

It had been easy to forget how large his mate was when he was in bed with Rogueford. A normal-sized man was big enough, he thought, but Warren was simply ridiculous. Still, he thought of his lover’s fingers inside him and thought that surely it would be unbearable to have had an Alpha do the same. His cheeks flushed at the thought and he was shocked to discover that he was curious as to the sensation.

Warren’s brows ticked downward for a moment, likely at whatever it was he detected in Jasper’s scent, and he gently adjusted the fall of the garment so that it was fit well as it tapered at an angle down Jasper’s back, the gold designs gleaming in the lamplight. “Very handsome,” Warren told him simply, as though he were commenting upon a well-bred dog rather than his mate.

Jasper’s lips tightened before he walked out the door and did not allow Warren to assist him in getting in the coach. They sat together in silence until they arrived at their destination and then, once they had arrived, they only spoke when necessary and at the very least, Warren seemed almost relieved. Perhaps because Jasper had not yet embarrassed him. The thought made his scent seem sodden and strange so he moved himself toward the window after supper, staring out into the darkness where the lamps lit the street in an odd green glow.

A presence was beside him suddenly, huge and uncompromising.

“You’re not enjoying yourself.”

He licked his lips, peering up at Warren’s stern face. “Are you here to give me an order that I must?”

“No.” He moved his eyes to the lamps outside and softened his tone. “Truly, I do not think I can enjoy these dinners either. It is only that Lord Willowby was interested in investing and had invited us...it is useful to seem…” He paused, as though he could not find the particular word he wished for. He settled on one, his scent betraying that he was not at all comfortable with his choice. “...organized.” He sighed, clearly prickled by something despite there having been no change to his expression.

Jasper murmured back to him. “I hope my presence has aided your cause...then perhaps it was not all-around a wasted evening…”

“I appreciate your coming. I know there are places you would rather be.”

It made him uncomfortable to be thanked and for his indiscretions to be so clearly thrown back at him. He crossed his arms and looked away, shielding himself slightly from this man who seemed to loom over him like a dark specter in a room full of people. “Thank you for consideration, Alpha, but you’ve no need to thank me. It is duty, is it not?”

“Yes,” he breathed. “I suppose it is.”

This ended their encounter and when he was home again, it was too late to send word to Rogueford that he might wish to visit. He was nearing that rather fervent week of his cycle and in the days preceding, he knew he had a much higher appetite than was usual. Not content with just himself now that he was faced with the potential for company, he was miffed to find that this was not the only evening he could not manage to procure the entertainment of his friend. Indeed, for the next few days, Rogueford was occupied by visiting relatives and could not take his fairer callers, leaving Jasper very much disappointed.

Warren, it seemed, had noticed his presence and, upon one occasion, was sitting in the small library with his newspaper when Jasper had come to enjoy the book he’d left upon one of the tables earlier.

“Oh,” Jasper emitted at his entry, startled to find the Alpha outside his study.

Warren cast him a tepid glance around his paper. “Evening, Jasper.”

He stood, unsure what he wished to do. On one hand, he wanted very much to cross the room and pluck up his book and read by the fireplace; on the other, he did not want to give the impression that he would welcome conversation.

The low sound of his mate’s voice jostled him. “Am I so intimidating? This is your library as well. You might as well come use it.”

Something inside him was egging him on. It wanted him to move closer to the Alpha. It wanted him to _use_ the library. Alarmed, he suddenly recognized the feeling, a strange dizziness coming over him that was very familiar. _Heat._ His body was reacting to the Alpha’s strong scent and in a wave of panic, he turned about suddenly and tapped as fast as he could down the hall until he could find Norman where he sat in the laundry helping the maids fold the sheets.

“Master Jasper,” he said, concern marring his face. “What are you doing?”

“I need my coach.” He felt breathless already, warmth beginning to flow through him and raise his temper.

Norman’s expression darkened and his eyes narrowed. “So suddenly?”

“Must I ask again?”

The Beta rose from where he sat, his chin jutting out. “Perhaps once more.”

Jasper growled petulantly, his fever growing. “ _My coach, Norman!_ ”

If the maids were scandalized by his valet’s blatant disrespect, they did not give any hint to it and in fact, they studiously avoided looking at either of them as they left together. Norman, for his part, was particularly stoic when he called for the footmen to bring around the unmarked coach and broke his facade only when he was just about to close the door after Jasper was seated inside.

“I hope his Lordship is smarter than you are.”

Jasper spat at him. “You’re dismissed! I don’t want to see you here when I return!”

Norman’s eyes flashed dangerously against the night and he offered his retort before he slammed the coach door shut. “ _We’ll see about that._ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I could probably be convinced to do a double-update today. Ah...just like the olden days of _A Toast to Twenty-Three._ If you're desperate for heat sex, you'll have to convince me...


	10. Chapter 10

Almost as soon as he arrived, Jasper got the feeling that he was somehow going to have a hard time of it. It was not obvious that Rogueford’s visiting relatives had gone and the staff was particularly shocked to find him there, though perhaps it was the heat scent which had startled them. In the carriage, he had begun to feel the sweat forming on his brow and beneath his cravat, the moisture beginning to pool in the small of his back and under his arms. He felt breathless and uncontrolled, his dizziness pronounced enough that upon his arrival, a waiting footman was sent to fetch him water. There was no reason for him to begin to panic, was there? There was no reason for him to believe that Rogueford would send him away. He was in heat. He was in need. Surely the man would see that.

The Beta, true to form, was wearing his housecoat over his shirtsleeves and trousers and arrived in his foyer with a look of abject concern as he adjusted his sash. His hands immediately came to Jasper’s face.

“Darling, what are you doing here? You had not sent word...he did not harm you…” It was not a question and it did not have to be. There was no reality in which Ben would have ever believed that Warren could have harmed him, Jasper had realized. “And you’re…”

“I want you.” It was bold of him and he was still in the foyer with the footman there to bring him his water. “Please do not refuse me. I could not stand it. I fear for myself. I do not want to spend any more time with him than I have to, please. I cannot bear the thought. I want to have everything with you…”

“Darling…” Ben began, his face darkening. It was almost as though it were meant to scold and Jasper couldn’t handle it.

He grasped the man by his housecoat and pulled him into a fervent kiss, ravenous suddenly for the man’s mild scent and his burning touch. He wanted what he couldn’t have for the past days. He felt as though he could scream with how wild he felt, seeking the sort of pleasure only this man could give him. At first, Ben did not respond to him but as he whined against his lips, the Beta finally kissed his back, moving him until he was shuffled backwards toward the door.

The cool night air hit him but he paid no heed, allowing Ben’s movements to gradually work him backwards until he was lifted into his coach. When he broke away and stared into Ben’s eyes with concern, his fears were allayed quickly.

“My cousins are still visiting, darling. I will take you elsewhere. The Muir should do, should it not? But first perhaps I shall take a few more kisses from you here…” He paused for a moment, pulling the small window to the driver open to give him instructions while Jasper’s mind buzzed with nonsense and his fingers fumbled with Ben’s trousers, his attempts at unfastening them failing with his trembling fingers. Finally, he gave up, launching himself into the Beta’s lap and pinning him to his seat, his hands grasping the man’s hair and biting over his lips and face in his fervor. For as much as the Beta entertained him, it was almost as though he could not keep up with him, his hands moving over his body and his lips crashing against him as he sought to retain control.

Jasper was nearly mad, his sweat pouring down his face and his cravat choking him with its sodden weight. He ripped himself from his kisses and tore at it, frustratedly pulling at the fabric until it had come clean off and been discarded on the floor. He tore at the buttons of his shirt near his neck and only managed to get one or two of them before he was overwhelmed yet again and had taken to continued kissing and scenting and keening with his desperation.

“D-Darling... _darling…_ ” Ben tried between biting kisses, his lip bleeding from the force of one of Jasper’s fevered presses. He took Jasper against him and pushed him toward the door which was opened for them, lifting him and nearly stumbling as he took him out into the cool air again.

He could hardly think of what other patrons of the hotel might have thought of him. If he’d any sense at all, he would have thought himself absolutely insane to risk his reputation like this--to risk his family and Warren and another scolding from Nora. He couldn’t think, however, and so he simply kept on scrambling for purchase upon the Beta’s housecoat, fighting him even as he was walked backward. Finally, he was shaken a bit, his head snapping back in order to make him pause for a moment and that is when he noted that he was being pushed again into a brightly-lit foyer.

_What a queer-looking hotel...why, it almost looks like…_

A cold wash of recognition passed through his heart and he suddenly lost feeling to his hands while the adrenaline rushed through him. He stared at Ben, his eyes wide and searching the Beta’s face for any trace of malice in his expression. None. There was blood smeared on his face from his bleeding lip and his eyes were more severe than Jasper had ever seen them, the amusement that normally danced inside him extinguished completely.

“Oh my god,” Jasper tried, his voice weak. “You...you…” He felt his bottom lip tremble. “ _You lied to me…_ ”

“As I recall, that was a stipulation of our relationship that very much entertained you,” he replied, his voice low and serious.

“ _This...this is not entertaining…_ ”

“Ah, then it seems the humor in all of this is lost upon you. Perhaps later, when you’ve recovered, we might consider it such a laugh together. Ah, I believe this is the man who’s come to fetch you, your valet?”

“ _How...how...how…_ ”

 _How could you! How could you! How could you!_

His mind screamed it but his voice could not produce it, only able to conjure the breathy beginnings of the tortured sentiment. He barely registered that Norman was standing at the bottom of the oval staircase, blank-faced and professional with his gloved hands clasped in front him while he waited to take Jasper into his care.

“Oh,” Ben tried, his voice trailing a little with emotion. He swallowed as he smiled, his hands coming together in front of him. “A-And...your _Alpha._ How sw-sweet of him to greet you at the door.” He gave a bow and Jasper turned, his heart in his throat while Warren stood upon the stairs looking down at him with an unreadable expression. Ben was not finished, conjuring charm from thin air. “Good evening, Alpha. We’ve not been properly introduced but I feel that perhaps such trivial things can be remedied at a later date. I was just here to deliver the young Mr. Oakley home this evening as a courtesy, of course. You understand. The hour is late and I _must_ leave you, I--”

Warren interrupted him, his voice arresting in its simple power. “Thank you, my Lord.”

“Of course,” Ben replied, relief so potent in his scent that it could have choked a man before he turned about and left, his back rod-stiff and his shoulders square, the last vestiges of his dignity perhaps.

Jasper was not so lucky as to be able to leave and so he stood, his heart beating madly in his chest, the steady thudding threatening to drive him insane as he peered through his growing fear toward Warren’s severe stare. When Norman took a step toward him, he flinched, drawing his eyes away from his husband and letting out a sharp cry.

“Master Jasper…”

“ _D-D-Don’t!_ ” He couldn’t speak any more than this, his lower jaw trembling as the scent of anger and Alpha came to him in soft waves, like a rippled pond lapping through reeds. He could smell himself. Betrayal, fury, absolute concentrated _rage_. All he wanted now was to go to his room but, seeming as he would have to pass Warren upon the stairs to do so, he fled to the library.

_Had he not been in here before, none of this would have happened!_

He knew it was a lie he told himself but it seemed right and so he stuck to it, even as his rage consumed him. He stumbled into the dim room, the only light from the low flames in the hearth. With shaking hands, he tossed books from tables onto the floor while tears escaped his eyes, hot and wet on his cheeks. His dizziness returned and he stumbled, falling not upon the settee but beside it while he gasped for air, his fever overtaking him until he was too weak to move, propped up by the settee’s cushion beneath his arm.

“Jasper?”

_No! Go away! I don’t want you!_

“You need water, Jasper.” His voice was so deep and rumbling that it seemed to vibrate through the Omega’s chest. All of a sudden, he was there, lifting the Omega from the floor and holding him like he was some fresh bride in his arms. His Alpha scent was musky and warm and overpowering as Jasper’s head lolled toward his shoulder.

_The roar of a raging waterfall and the cool mist which rose from its churning depths. Blood prickling fevered cheeks while the pulse pounded in a heavy sprint. Storming footfalls over hardwood floors and the rush of rain over the roof during a summer shower. Control. Dominance. The hard weight of Alpha over him--between his legs._

Instinct forced him to twist his head in order to bare his throat to his mate, completing his submission before he was laid down upon the bed, propped up by the pillows and made to sip cool water. It brought him back only a little, as the Alpha’s scent was cloying him, begging him to _mate_. When he finished the water in the glass, he turned his head away from the Alpha, whining at the illogical reaction of his body.

_Why am I so weak against him? It cannot be because he is my mate. There is no magical bond that tethers us! What has he done to me?! What kind of passion has he infused with my blood?!_

He felt his body freed from the confines of his clothes but even when he lay naked upon the counterpane, he was only given more to drink, forced again to finish an entire glass of water while he hissed at the cold compresses set upon his thighs. Shamelessly, he writhed among the pillows and snaked his hand between his legs, grasping at himself and stroking between his fingers. A word bubbled to the tip of his tongue and he fought it, choosing instead to moan helplessly, stifling it by closing his lips over it while he closed his eyes and willed himself to remain strong.

_How?! How! He will touch me. He will take me and mate me and breed me like the little vamp I’ve become! I cannot deny him. I have been offered to the beast as sacrifice and it is the fate I must accept…_

“Jasper.”

He groaned, closing his eyes harder as he pulled and stroked himself, pleasure tingling in the base of his spine.

“Jasper, are you listening to me?”

“ _Nnnnnngh…_ ”

Warren’s hands felt cool on either side of his head, gently turning to face him forward. “Tell me what I can do for you. If you wish to be left alone for the night, I will not force you.”

All at once, his mind exploded and he screamed aloud. “ _Don’t leave me!_ ” He reached out, gripping the Alpha’s shoulders with his sweat-slicked hands, grasping at the brocade of his waistcoat and pulling until the man had toppled over, his face buried in the pillows and his body tumbling awkwardly down over him. His scent was so near. So enticing. So _intoxicating_. That he was struggling to regain his balance meant nothing to Jasper as he held him, burying his hands in his hair and tucking his nose just under his ear for a deep breath in.

 _Snow piling high over bare branches in winter. The nip of a frosty wind over lips and the muted sting of white flakes as they brushed over exposed flesh. The crackle of ice dams breaking over the flow of a creekbed and the sweet_ chirrup! _of a brambling where he sat among the winter brush._

Passion colored his cheeks as he fought the Alpha to keep him down, to keep that scent at the tip of his nose. His top half was lifted from the bed as Warren tried to regain his stance, one knee upon the mattress to gain balance. “ _Don’t leave me...don’t...don’t...Alpha…_ ”

“What do you...” he breathed shakily, affected greatly by the proximity to Jasper’s scent. His voice was hardly a murmur. “What do you want? Do you want me? Or do you want _him?_ ”

Jasper’s brows pinched in a frown and he didn’t respond, opening his mouth against the Alpha’s soft flesh just under his ear, lapping at the scent there until he could gently take his ear between his teeth, nibbling and sucking in turns. This caused a hard shudder to work through Warren’s body and he hissed a breath through his teeth.

“Jasper…tell me what you want…”

He felt drunk and out of control, weaving his fingers through the man’s hair and holding him as tight as he could, his body undulating beneath him, beckoning with his scent and his slick. “ _Lie to me. I want you to lie to me..._ ”

There was a short pause. “What?”

Jasper, undeterred, whispered against his ear, breathless and wild. “ _Tell me you’ll build me a library._ ”

Warren was quiet. He was quiet for long enough that Jasper felt the beginnings of nervousness floating to the top of his consciousness, gathering in small bubbles as though he were a light champagne. He felt, then, the side of his mate’s face press against his own, the man’s nose tucking against his throat. Then, Warren whispered. “ _I’ll build you a library…_ ”

Elation filled him and he let himself slip a little so that he could hold his forehead against the Alpha’s, breathing him until he could tentatively hold his lips close to his mate’s mouth, sliding against his silken softness to tempt him. Success was measured in how many kisses he could steal and Warren soon revealed that he was weak to the lure, pressing forward just enough to take one light, open-mouthed kiss. It was a test, of sorts, as if he could not be certain whether or not he really wished to take what Jasper offered. The second kiss was much more certain than the first, the Alpha forcing his lips open wider with his own kiss but only providing a cursory sweep of his tongue before he sucked on Jasper’s bottom lip, this one easily transferring to another erotic press and exploration which pushed the Omega backward until he was fully cushioned again by the pillows behind him.

“ _Mmmgh…_ ” Warren groaned, his hands coming to Jasper’s naked flesh, exploring him and knowing him as an Alpha knows his Omega. His weakness was easy to exploit and Jasper opened his knees around him, accepting him between his thighs without hesitation.

Shockingly, the Omega suddenly realized that he rather _liked_ kissing Warren Oakley. There was something possessive in his grasp that spoke to Jasper’s instinct--which called out to something primitive inside him. The manner in which he dominated in his kiss, forcing Jasper into compliance with his avaricious advances; it was thrilling and dangerous in turns and he simply had to have more of it.

The hard length of his mate was pressing over him through the fabric of his trousers, his groin wet with the Omega’s slippery emissions. Jasper panted, breaking away from those sensuous kisses to keen and beg.

“ _Tell me you’ll take me to Paris…_ ”

Warren was growling, his hips slowly rocking back and forth until he reached down, fervently unfastening his trousers and pulling his girthy length into the warm air of the room, pressing his velvet flesh against Jasper’s tight entrance. “ _I...I’m…_ ”

“ _Alpha…_ ” he whined, squeezing at his hips with his knees.

“ _I’ll take you to...to Paris…_ ” With that, he pressed hard enough to penetrate, giving out a small triumphant moan as he sank slowly by inches into Jasper’s grasping body.

The Omega sighed, feeling himself stretch to accommodate Warren’s huge shaft, thankful that the Alpha did not assume him to be some overly-experienced harlot for all his time he’d spent in Rogueford’s company. It was hardly fathomable that he had not allowed the Beta to breach him like this and yet the Alpha took him gently, still. He let his head fall back among the pillows, his throat bared completely, the mark of his mate fully exposed. He kept himself still until he was impaled right up to the bulk of the knot at which point, he gave out a tiny cry, disbelieving how utterly full he felt. He knew that he could fit the whole of that monstrous thing inside him. He’d done it before. But how-- _how?!_ A part of him begged for movement and so he encouraged, his muscles tightening around Warren’s manhood, urging him to thrust.

His husband complied, beginning slowly and working up to a hearty pace, his knot slapping rhythmically against the rim of his opening, threatening and heartening in turns. Jasper kissed him again, sloppy with movement and passion as they gave out mutual cries and short groans of pleasure into each other’s mouths.

_Heat! Heat! Gods bless and curse heat!_

“ _Uhn! Hunh! Ahn! Uungh!_ ”

His fingers were tight in Warren’s hair, his other hand fisting the back of his waistcoat. “ _Tell...Tell me…_ ”

The Alpha pressed hard against him, seeking to push that enormous knot inside him. “ _What,_ ” he began, straining and breathless. “ _What more could...could you want from me?_ ”

Jasper’s mouth stretched into a hard grimace as he winced against the pain. The Alpha eased back for just a moment and then pushed forward again, coaxing the Omega’s body open and giving a victorious cry when he succeeded in burying the whole of his pulsing knot deep into Jasper’s body, sending them both into a wild, mutual climax marked by shuddering pleasured convulsions.

He felt shattered, still riding the sweetened high of his peak as though he enjoyed the aftertaste of honey on his tongue. “ _Tell me you love me…_ ”

Warren was still and curiously silent, propped above him with his head resting to the side of Jasper’s, his breaths heavy through his nose. He was quiet for so long that Jasper barely heard his soft whisper over his descent into a thick, syrupy slumber. It was so soft that perhaps it was just part of the beginning of some sweet dream.

 _“I could love you...someday.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oooooh, here we go...


	11. Chapter 11

The fire was dying but Warren had a candle burning at his writing desk as he sat awake, his elbow next to the parchment and his chin in his hand. He was staring out the window at the dark street below without any of his clothes on and his cock rigid between his thighs. Thoughts raced through his mind and there were few truly lucid ones that stuck. Heat was doing a number on him this time around and he kept flicking his gaze back to the bed. He’d let the curtains down but he could see a sliver through the crack in them--his little husband sleeping soundly, the smell of slick heavy in the air.

It was overly warm in the room and he couldn’t help but feel jealous of the compresses that had been brought for his mate. He could use one directly on his groin. He blinked, trying to clear his mind and focus on what he’d already written. The spidery scrawl of his own handwriting blurred into his tired eyes and it took him too long to read it over. His hand shook when he dipped his pen in the ink again and he had to take a deep breath and hold it in order to press the nib to the parchment and write.

He didn’t quit holding his breath until he was done with the last sentence of his rather long missive and he set the pen down next to it, closing the ink bottle before he got up. His legs felt weak and his head felt light and he thought perhaps it was simply due to the fact that nearly all his blood supply was busy inflating the organ which bounced heavily between his legs, his knot throbbing and begging to be squeezed and milked. Jasper was deeply asleep, his breaths long and quiet and yet entirely audible to the Alpha’s sensitive ears.

It was as though every one of his senses was pinpointed upon his mate. He could not forget the way he sounded as he slept. The way he mewled when he was pleased. The way he kissed when he was elated and overcome by ecstasy. Warren’s brain was babbling to itself again and he paused where he stood, peering down at the street again, waiting to see the lamplighters come and turn down the lamps while his body was trained toward any hint that his mate was awakened by the ever-increasing intensity of his lust. It was almost as though he could feel the very beat of Jasper’s heart and the gentle vibrations of his unconscious arousal. He recalled Jasper’s tearful words, letting them sound out in his head like resounding church bells.

_Whatever it is that you’ve done to me...I hate it._

Vividly did he recall the way the boy had come to him like a _lover_. He had opened his legs and willingly taken Warren between them and he had not at all the prickly persona that normally blocked easy communication and intercourse. Perhaps Warren should have sent a letter to Rogueford. To thank him for his work in softening the boy who so fervently tried to deny him before.

_He welcomed my touch…_

Warren stared down at his hands, almost disbelieving that such a thing could have occurred. That he had originally sought his lover was a concern for later when Warren had a bit more of his mind under control. Now, he was doubtful that such an event could repeat. Jasper had been desperate. What of the next time? Sometime around now or at least within the hour, Jasper would wake and perhaps he would be upset or angry. The man that Warren married did not wish for an Alpha as a mate but the man who had taken him only hours ago was like a dream...a dream that Warren wished very much would grace him again.

_Tell me you love me._

A shred of panic shot through him and he stared into the dark little sliver between the bed curtains. Had he lied? He had told Jasper that he would never lie to him no matter the issue and it was true--he would never lie. He would build the boy a library if he wanted a library. He would take him to Paris as well. Both of those things were within his power to command but to love him? It was not. But he thought he _could_. Had the statement been truthful? _Could he love his husband one day?_

He did not know. The answer to such a question was behind a shroud of fine mist, undulating within the haze of his tumultuous emotions. He was lost within the fog over a gray sea and there was naught to guide him but the gentle breaths of his husband, the only lighthouse he could seek after the listlessness that came from his great unmooring when he had told Nora to go.

Warren craved something just then. He wanted to touch and be touched. He wanted to know that there was something to be done and someone who needed him. He felt his brows coming together as they were wont to do and so he strode lightly to the edge of the bed and pulled back the curtain so that he could peer down at the slumbering Omega. There was no nest here yet but there would be soon, he imagined, and he would reside within it for the next few days. But when he touched Jasper--could he remain silent? Or would he be asked to lie again? Could he stand to have more asked of him? What if Jasper asked for something truly impossible?

He sat down on the edge of the bed, peering back to the letter he’d written on his desk. He would send it as soon as Norman was awake and about but he would have to leave it there for now--for what if there was more to put in it?

“Alpha?”

His heart squeezed in his chest and he could have wept for how soft and sweet Jasper sounded. How vulnerable he was when he woke and his mate was not curled around him but a few feet away from him at the edge of the bed. Warren took in a hard breath and turned his head about to peer beneath the curtain, letting his eyes adjust to the darkness so that he could see how the boy had unfurled, his naked body splayed out upon his back and his throat bared in instinctive submission.

“...Alpha?” he asked again, his voice breathy and wanting.

“Are you feeling thirsty, Jasper?”

“N-No…” His chest was working harder now, bringing in shallow gasps which shuddered as he let them out. “ _Nnn...nnn...._ ” He keened, the sounds in his throat like those of a small dog that begged for scraps of food at his master’s knee.

“What can I do?”

The Omega turned over onto his stomach and then got to his hands and knees, crawling over to where Warren sat. The first touch was over his naked hip and put a subtle heat through the Alpha’s skin. He twisted a bit to face Jasper more and the second touch was more tentative, Jasper’s eyes wide and searching and filled with a gentle hope. His fingertips just barely brushed against Warren’s face, skimming down over his cheek until he had settled them over his bottom lip.

Warren whispered. “ _What is it, Jasper?_ ”

“I n-need…”

“I am your husband, Jasper. You need not ask when you are in heat. You may take whatever it is that you want from me. I am at your leisure.”

A strange ripple of something passed through the Omega’s features and he hesitated for a moment before he leaned forward, replacing his fingers with his mouth.

Warren was somewhat disgruntled by how pleasing it was to kiss the boy he married. He was so sweet and darling that each touch over his lips was like a tender torture--the most agreeable form of pain, he supposed. It was only thus because he knew that once the man was out of his heat, he would regret having done it. Jasper had rejected him wholly in choosing Rogueford over him at the start of this cycle and yet even still, Warren could not even consider using the flight to instigate a divorce. The boy was here now and he was kissing his _Alpha_. It was something, at least, though Warren was not certain what kind of rejection he could handle after the likes of this eager reception. He felt like a man groping about for light in a pitch black room who had found a pinhole in the wall.

He allowed the Omega to set the pace of this encounter, feeling the slide of hands over his shoulders and his throat as Jasper came to his knees on the bed, his compresses forgotten among the sheets. The boy was feeling him, touching him everywhere and spreading his scent over him, mixing the Alpha and the Omega until it was all a blur together--sharp and musky and inviting and sweet. What was more disturbing, Warren thought, was that he loved that scent. Jasper alone could not reach him but the both of them together was like something straight out of a tempestuous, sensual dream of his youth. He could not help but react to it and in one of Jasper’s searching kisses, he begged permission to deepen with his tongue.

Permission was granted with another noisy sigh and Warren felt his mate’s hand filtering into his hair, holding his head while the other trailed down his back, gentle nails scraping over his flesh and sending waves of sensation down his spine. Jasper was edging closer to him and with each erotic wave of kisses eased to further contact between them until he could swing his thigh over Warren’s lap, jostling his manhood as he straddled him tight. The Alpha held him steady, his big hands over the boy’s waist before he slid them down and up, seeking to communicate _something_ with every sweep of skin against skin. He could feel slick dribbling in a steady, thin stream over him and he reached behind his mate and between his thighs, coating himself in that slippery fluid with stroking fingers.

He’d never been so hard in his life and it was marvelous what a few kisses could do, he thought as he guided Jasper down with one hand over his hip until the head of his length was butted up against the Omega’s dripping entrance.

“ _Ungh…_ ” Jasper breathed, his teeth nibbling over Warren’s lower lip. “ _Alpha…_ ”

He let his mate descend further, simply holding himself steady so that he might penetrate easier. It was tight--so tight--and he squeezed slowly into the warm sheath of his Omega’s body. He could have whispered a thousand things into Jasper’s ear and none of them would have been lies but no doubt the boy would have balked to hear them so he buried his nose into Jasper’s throat and took in a deep breath of their shared scents, letting the images it conjured stick into his consciousness.

_Juniper and witch hazel. A soft word and cool touch over bruised and broken flesh. Comfort and safety beyond the reach of a potent danger. The lingering smell of old wood in dark places where only a sliver of candle light shone in through a crack of the door. Pressing a sore cheek against a china vase for its surface seemed to hold tight the coolness of the air. Laying carefully down over the grass in the gloam of dusk so as not to stain any clothes that might be seen. Care. Caution. Comfort in unlikely places…_

Warren breathed, his grasp over himself less controlled as he sought to guide Jasper upward with both hands, letting the boy ride him slowly while they breathed together. Heat had always seemed like something that needed to be fed quickly and desperately but this time it seemed far less urgent and Warren was content to let the boy lead him and touch him and kiss him sweetly with a patient and searching mouth.

His oath to not speak to the boy when they were in bed together save for the most pressing of matters did not seem to be at the forefront of his mind and he broke from Jasper’s kiss to plead between his lips. “ _J-Jasper...m-mate...I’m going to c-come._ ”

“ _Hnnnhh…_ ” It seemed that the Omega was far beyond words and had been for some time. He eased downward again, impaled and pressed by his weight against Warren’s knot which was near to fully engorged with blood. “ _Nnnnh!_ ” The meaning was found, nevertheless, and Warren pressed him down and leaned a little backward, bracing his feet against the floor for leverage as he pushed intolerably upward until Jasper had screamed out in triumph as the knot slotted home and the Alpha groaned in ecstasy. Even as his stomach tensed and his breath caught in the aftershocks, he reached between them, his trembling hand giving Jasper the few strokes he needed to finish him--jets of pearl warm against Warren’s chest.

The Omega collapsed into him and he held him, feeling the weight of his mate’s arms as they gripped him around his neck and the intimate press of their bodies together, sticky with spend and sweat. They breathed and they remained, stuck together not only in their physical bodies but in circumstances beyond. In the former, they had found a deep and soul-catching euphoria and the latter remained to be seen.

_I could love you. Someday._

Warren rested his cheek against Jasper’s head, skimming his lips over the top of his ear. He wanted to whisper. He wanted to tell him something encouraging or sweet or even just in any way nice. He wanted to tell him that he wanted, more than anything, for him to happy. But none of that would have been welcome, he thought, and so all that came out was uselessness.

“ _Are you thirsty? Should you like to move?_ ”

His husband clung a little bit tighter, hiding his face in Warren’s shoulder. “...no. I want… I want to stay...like this…”

“ _Alright,_ ” he conceded, adding, “ _Just for a little while. Then water and sleep._ ”

The Omega did not respond.

_I could…_

_I could…_

_I might..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warren...baby... ★~(◡﹏◡✿)
> 
> HEY. Remember, you can always chat with me and others who've read my work in my [Discord Server.](https://discord.gg/af7KvbT2AJ) I'm around a lot and there are things you may discover there that'll surprise you! :D


	12. Chapter 12

It wasn’t that Warren Oakley wasn’t handsome. He was. In fact, it was probably some kind of a survival mechanism that provided such a thought during a heat--that the Alpha was attractive and desirable--which made Omegas less likely to reject their destined partner. Jasper wasn’t sure. Maybe that thought was just as stupid as any of the others which came when he was overcome by fever. Objectively, he recognized that Warren was good-looking. Who would ever say that he wasn’t? He was huge, his shoulders broad and his eyes piercing. He was the epitome of what a real Alpha was--vaguely threatening and protective in the way Omegas surely craved. Jasper knew that his own instincts were thrumming with desire whenever the man moved as though to guard him when the staff arrived to deliver food or water or cool compresses.

He didn’t _wish_ for any of this, but it was as though he could not help himself from craving it. He’d had a taste of what kind of true pleasures were to be had in laying with a man from Rogueford’s bed but his own marriage bed seemed, often, like an intimidating venture. Even when Warren had extended the open invitation to him--to take whatever it was that he needed--he was tentative. He did not want to give the impression that he was some kind of loose Omega or that he had committed more sins than he actually had.

But in the midst of his agonizing urges, he was helpless to the draw. _Alpha_ was all his mind could focus upon and he felt like he had dipped into the lowly condition of his dynamic--the fluid and languid posture of a lustful Omega. He had far less control than he had in Rogueford’s arms and he could not help but to open his thighs to Warren’s invasion. He simultaneously welcomed and abhorred becoming an Alpha’s possession, being temporarily bonded to a man by the most lewd acts--fucking and knotting.

Still, he did not only allow it, he welcomed it. Over and over again he was possessed and penetrated. Several times, he remembered pleading and dutifully presenting, begging for his Alpha to take him and breed him.

Over time, heat faded and yet the memories of what he had done crept into his consciousness. Warren was asleep beside him and so he turned his body to face him, studying his slumbering profile with keen eyes. Long lashes resting over his cheeks. A proud, roman nose. Lips that were plush and slightly parted, as though teasing Jasper for how many times the Omega had kissed his mate. He reflected upon that for a moment, chewing his own bottom lip and trying desperately to forget how much he had liked those kisses. They were nothing like Rogueford--they were at once both tentative and mighty, the dominating kisses of a man who held _his Omega._ There was something so deeply captivating about that reflection that Jasper found himself very much shocked by his own sudden wish.

_I want to know what it feels like beyond heat. I want to feel it when I have control. Is it so good when I have my mind about me? Or is it only when I am beyond my own logic that I crave it?_

Even as he had these thoughts, he began to feel the gentle stirring of lust between his legs. His heat scent had faded into nothing and he began to have second thoughts. The last time he had come to Warren expecting to be sated in a state much like the one he was in now, he was rejected with a casual touch to his forehead to check for a fever. Perhaps if he was more direct? Still, humiliation was much easier to endure when his body prevented him from analyzing every moment. He agonized over this for a small time before the pulsing pressure between his legs would not allow him to ignore it. He wanted to come. Even if it was not from further abuse to his sore bottom, he wished to have at least one more divine Alpha-induced orgasm before he fell back into the reality of being a thorn in Warren’s side.

But how to present the matter? Kissing the man awake had already been in his repertoire this heat but to do so when he was not addled with mind-numbing lust was perhaps going too far. He could not bring himself to do it. Moving to straddle him seemed along those same lines and he rejected that idea as well, finding the idea of the venture to be at best distasteful.

He sat up, staring down at the Alpha in his vexation. His muscles were sore and there was dried spend flaking on his belly. He could feel some left over upon his bottom and between his thighs and he winced at the sensation. They had certainly made a fair bit of a mess over the fine silk sheets, he thought wryly as he continued to study the Alpha sleeping before him. It was nearly inconceivable that he had allowed Warren to touch him the way he had--to hold him and take him and _speak to him._ Not only speak to him, _lie to him._ He felt his cheeks burn as he thought of how he had pleaded for his husband to speak like the man who had cuckolded him.

Jasper covered his face for a second, rubbing hard over his eyes and cheeks and nose before he took his hands away and discovered with a tiny gasp that Warren had blinked open sleepy eyes to look at him.

The Alpha said nothing, blinking a few more times before he rubbed at his own eyes with his fingers and rolled to sit at the edge of the bed, the covers falling away from him.

Jasper felt a sudden welling alarm. “Alpha?”

_If you want something you’ll have to tell him what it is that you want. Tell him you want to have him again! Tell him! Damn the humiliation! Damn your stupid sensibilities!_

“Hmm.” It was not posed as a question.

“I...I um…” He swallowed, feeling a heavy lump forming in his throat. This really was the worst. How could he ask for something so degrading? How could he force the words from his mouth?

_Just tell him! Tell him you want him to hold you down and take you again. Tell him you want another kiss! Tell him you want to present! Tell him anything! Anything to make him stay in this bed and make you come!_

“I um...ahhh...I think that...this time was much better...than...last time.” His face was so hot he was sure that perhaps it could simulate heat.

“Hmm…” Warren didn’t look at him, again rubbing at his eyes. This time, the grunt seemed like a tentative agreement.

“I have...uhm...noticed something about myself, Alpha, that perhaps might pertain to you…?”

Warren finally blinked and peered over his shoulder, his eyes raking up and down over the nakedness of the Omega which was available and free from the sheets. He did not offer a query but appeared at least mildly curious and so Jasper offered warily.

“Though my scent has...for the most part, returned to normal, I think I...uhm...c-could...have a...another…”

The flat and severe features of the Alpha did not change but he stood up from the bed, his manhood thick but soft, bumping up against one thigh while Jasper flushed at the sight and willed his eyes away. “I commend you upon your very impressive stamina, Jasper, but it seems that my endurance is far more limited.”

Jasper felt a distinct little jab of indirect pain in his chest and he smelled his own frustration and sadness in his scent.

Warren sighed through his nose, his shoulders easing down while he looked through the clothes which had been neatly folded and readied for the morning should he need them. “Pardon...I did not mean for that to hurt you. Your own rules limit my touching of you and I was under the impression that outside your heat, you wished to be touched not at all.”

“I cannot make an exception?” He worried at his lip, unable to look Warren in the eyes so instead, he focused at the rumpled and soiled bedsheets.

“Like your exception to my own requests?” Warren asked, his voice low and soft. “You cannot think to plead ignorance toward your own heat when you fled my house for your lover. You were very spirited with him, I observed, and quite distraught at being held to your agreement.”

Jasper felt hot tears form behind his eyes and he took in a shuddering and sudden breath in his emotion. He hadn’t expected _this_ to be the course of the morning and had, indeed, forgotten all about his desperate flight to Rogueford on the cusp of his cycle. A deep chasm of shame crumbled open inside him and try as he might to cover it with rationalizations and excuses for himself, he could not hide the tang to his scent or the crash of its effect upon his current state of mind. He breathed out a whispered reply, half-hidden in a tiny sob. “ _I’m sorry…_ ”

Warren regarded him dispassionately, his appearance stony as it always was. “You should, perhaps, thank his Lordship. He did very well to save your marriage. He might help you along with this issue as well.”

If there were any worse things that Warren himself could have said to Jasper in that moment, he was not sure what they might have entailed. He sat in the cloud of his own shame, staring at the bedsheets while the Alpha bathed himself with a sponge and then dressed. When, finally, Warren left him alone, he collapsed among the pillows, weeping bitterly until there was nothing left within him and he was overtired with it. He fell asleep again and when he woke mid afternoon, his eyes were crusted with tears and his nose was filled with the combination of their scents--a very odd and cold sort of comfort that left him feeling empty and strange.

_I am the villain of my own story._

He heard the door open and for one fleeting moment, he hoped that it might be the Alpha so that he could somehow make this right. But his stuffy nose picked up the faint mild scent of Norman and he shifted in the bed. “Please do not lecture me.”

“I suppose from the smell of you, your husband has already done so quite well.”

“Your words are like the prick of a knife. His are a sword that runs me through. At least it does not take him so long to destroy me.”

Norman sniffed. “A mercy you do not deserve.”

“I thought I dismissed you.”

“If you care to do so again, you will find that your husband will overturn that order. Get up. I’ll have you dressed so that you might not wallow in your misery and your soiled sheets. You should not stay here, anyway. Your husband might wish for a rest and you will be in his way.”

Jasper closed his eyes and despite having just slept for so long, he began to feel tired again. _I will never be out of his way. I am such a burden to him and I’ve no excuse._

“Come. Up.”

He unwillingly rose and bathed and dressed, finding that his legs felt weak and whenever he walked, his rump felt exceedingly sore. He avoided Warren’s study for the rest of the day but found later on that he needn’t have bothered, for the man had gone out. He sat in a parlor which had a large window out toward the street and he watched the carriages pass on the other side of the tall wrought iron fence, his thoughts wandering over all the muddy and undefined things that had occurred to him over the past few days.

Warren had been so good. He had complied even with the smallest of Jasper’s ridiculous requests, promising him things like Rogueford, the lies spilled from pleasured speech. Getting the Alpha to say them had seemed like such a victory at the time and kissing him had seemed very much like a distinctive taboo. He wondered, now, whether or not the Alpha would allow for any subsequent heat to be so immersive.

“A note for you by courier, sir,” the butler stated from the door, entering when he had been seen and delivering the parchment dutifully.

Jasper opened the nondescript little letter and recognized Rogueford’s script immediately.

> _Little Dove,_

> _I heard that your mate was around town this morning and so I assume that you are convalescing. I hope that you do not hold my actions against me when we last met. It is a devil of a scandal to be an Omega divorced and though I know your passions were great, I could not think to see your position at risk for my own selfish desires. If you hold no ill will against me and you wish to see me again, I will surely accept you._

> _Yours, Ben_

He thought that he might crumple it up and throw it into the fire but at the last, he merely folded it and tucked it into the pocket of his waistcoat. He waited for a long time in the parlor, refusing supper when he was summoned and choosing instead to lay his head upon the back of the settee so that he could watch the carriages as they clattered by again. He watched until it was dark and the only light in the parlor was from the dim lamps the staff had come in to light around him. Norman did not disturb him. Nobody did. When he finally decided that Warren was not going to be home, he got up and moved with his wobbling legs until he found a footman who summoned the unmarked coach.

Rogueford met him in the library of his town home and regarded him with leery eyes. “Evening, darling. I can sense you’re upset and I cannot even smell you yet...I would apologize but you know I am not sorry. I rather like to keep my head upon my shoulders and not popped off by the likes of an angry Alpha. Tell me he did not promise you divorce nevertheless...”

“No…” Jasper replied softly.

“Good. He does not seem the type though he was very severe...I think that was the first time I’d seen him so close. Graces, what an imposing man.” He approached but did not touch Jasper yet, his handsome face lit by the glow of several lamps. “You must be sore. Why do you not sit with me? I will read to you from Chaucer and it might lift your spirits.”

“I think I would prefer to lie down.”

“Oh?” His expression turned toward concern. “Alright. We’ll retreat then, shall we?”

Ben took him to the same room he always did and undressed him carefully, settling him in the comfortable bed with pillows to rest upon and blankets to curl under. When he was finally gathered up against his Beta lover’s chest, he lay his head into the nook of the man’s shoulder.

“Darling…” Ben tried, his voice soothing and mild. “He did not hurt you...did he?”

“Only with his words.”

The Beta sighed, threading his fingers pleasantly into Jasper’s hair. “You know, you should consider yourself very lucky.”

“That he did not divorce me? I have wished today several times that he would have…”

“No,” Ben chuckled. “That you have a man so handsome and young. Gracious, he is large. It might grate upon you to be so small in a bed with a man so large but lord what I wouldn’t give to have _him_ over me…”

Jasper puffed a disturbed breath out his nose. “He wouldn’t dally like that…”

“Why not? There’s not a whole lot of difference between an Omega and a Beta where it counts, is there?” He was smiling and Jasper didn’t like it. He didn’t like the idea of anyone fooling around with Warren and it was perhaps the knowledge that he didn’t like it that disturbed him the most.

“He doesn’t mate out of rut.”

“Oh?” Ben asked, his voice alight with interest. “He like that, hm? Can’t swive without the aroma of love? How novel, I wouldn’t have thought that Warren Oakley couldn’t wield a weapon.” He was chuckling again. “Hmm...though that may have something to do with his wittolhood. He must be more stung by our affair than he let on.”

“I don’t know…” Jasper frowned. “Even before that...he came to me once in our bed when we were first married and he tried to...I think he tried to take me then but he became frustrated…”

Ben was quiet for a moment. “Good lord...he really is too far in his own head.”

“What do you mean by that?”

His hand stopped its petting over Jasper’s hair. “Your husband is very much a thinking man. Sometimes a man must know that he is safe and accepted and loved before his body will allow for intimacy. His impotency surely cannot be medical in nature for it does not extend to rut...so it must be mental.” A soft growl emanated from the Beta’s chest. “Oh...Jasper...you are a _lucky boy._ ”

He raised himself up, peering down into Ben’s grinning face while his frustrations pinched. “Why are you saying that? I cannot see how I am to be lucky at all. It is awful. I am trapped in this horrible scenario and he refused me this morning terribly. You should have heard what he said to me.”

“I say that you are lucky for I could only imagine being the man who might stir that dragon to life. A man like that? His cock must be fit for his size...oh I’d be very prideful indeed to know I could rile his steed.” He was still grinning wide and at the last note of his statement he had nipped at Jasper’s chin with his fingers.

The Omega felt a strange jealousy come over him and inhabit him as though he were possessed by a foreign spirit. “He’s not that kind of a man.”

“What?”

“Th-The sort who would sleep with you!” He sat up suddenly, unsure what he was feeling. “H-He’s a very proper gentleman.”

Ben sat up, his grin vanished and his expression soft and appraising. “Are you jealous, little dove? That is only natural...he is your mate, after all.”

“I am not.”

“You’re lying to me. Very quaint. You should feel no shame in jealousy. I guarantee you that he is just as jealous over you.”

Jasper let out a small scoff even as his anger seemed to intensify. “It is to your benefit that he is not at all jealous of me. If he were, you really would have your head popped off, wouldn’t you?”

“I really am drawing your ire tonight. Come lay with me again and we’ll not discuss him. Would you like my mouth upon you?”

As much as he had wished for Ben’s company earlier in the evening, he felt that this was profoundly different. As though somehow this heat had altered him in some nebulous way as to make him ill-fitted to entertain Ben’s peculiar humor. He wished, then, that he were in his own bed...or even in Warren’s. He missed the stable comfort of an Alpha’s warmth and the sense of protection he’d craved over the past week. He missed how everything had been boiled down and reduced to its most simplistic state. He had thought that Ben’s presence might simulate such a sensation but now realized that it was fruitless to compare the two men--Ben was very much _not_ an Alpha.

Ben sensed this, his brows slowly easing together. “Are you alright, darling? Do you want to go home?”

He couldn’t respond in words but he nodded with a small sniff.

“Oh dear.” Ben held him for a few moments until the urge to weep had lifted and then helped him dress again, giving him another tight squeeze at the back entrance when he left with the invitation to see him some other time.

He was lost, floating in a sea of uncertainty as the coach rumbled around him over the cobblestone. He did not want to see his husband. He did not want to see his lover. He did not want to see his sister. He especially did not want to see Norman who would peer upon him with disapproval.

_But I don’t want to be alone._

He made it to his room, avoiding everyone and when Norman came to see to him, he turned him away politely, claiming that he was very much capable of getting ready to sleep by himself. His room seemed cold and his bed a dark specter which taunted him with its icy sheets and its promise of a lonely night. He stood beside it, staring at the pillows and fighting with himself until he could fight no more and he left, pulling on his dressing gown and padding to the door that joined his room with his husband’s. Reaching for the handle, he faltered, wondering if it might be locked. If it was, what would he do? Instead of trying to enter, he pressed his ear gently against the wood, searching for any sound of activity or even perhaps the soft breaths of his husband on the other side.

When he could not hear anything at all, he tried the handle and found it unlocked, swinging open easily and allowing him to pad inside over the rug. Warren was awake, reading a book by the light of a lamp set on his bedside table, a pair of spectacles perched in the middle of his nose. Jasper, upon being seen, froze, his hands held up near his throat while anxiety gripped him.

“Yes, Jasper?”

_Tell him you don’t want to be alone. Tell him you couldn’t bear to even see your lover. Tell him you want an Alpha. Tell him anything...if it will get you into his bed._

“Jasper?” His head tilted a bit and he removed his glasses, placing them along with the book upon the nightstand near to the candle. “Are you feeling alright?”

His voice sounded strange and foreign. “I...I’m sorry.”

Warren’s face did not change and he remained silent.

“I d-don’t mean to be so difficult.”

“I think that we’ve all been under a bit of stress recently,” the Alpha provided generously. “I...I _apologize_ for having antagonized you this morning. I am no good with an Omega’s tears and it was wrong of me to incite them. No harm was done and I should have let it be.”

Jasper couldn’t speak again, his throat filled with that incessant lump which made his breathing ragged. Walking seemed so difficult that he was certain he must have been dragging his feet through thick mud when he shuffled to Warren’s bed. Tears were clouding his vision and he blinked, sending them dripping down his cheeks.

Warren sat, his hands in his lap and his expression difficult to read. His scent was spiced with a fair amount of confusion that the Omega could not assuage--not without his voice.

“ _A-Al-Alpha…_ ” It was a primitive entreaty and its meaning was not lost upon Warren, his response a curious lean and a motion to flip the counterpane and the sheets so that Jasper might crawl in. He did, his whole body trembling with held-in sobs while he lay down upon his side, facing the man who had only just twenty-four hours ago held him as a lover and a mate.

Warren’s nose tested the air. “You saw him today.”

Jasper hiccuped, his blink releasing more tears into the pillows before he nodded. He took in a noisy breath and then let it out in a harsh sob. This seems to ease the pressure in his throat. “ _I didn’t want him…_ ”

The Alpha seemed to contemplate the statement for a few seconds, his stern expression shifting in only the most minuscule of ways before he leaned back and blew out the candle at his side, plunging the room into darkness. The sheets shuffled and Jasper could feel his warmth. “Do you want me to squeeze your neck, Jasper? It might help the tears. I am...no good with tears.”

He could hardly believe his own words, mumbled out through spit and sobs. “ _P-Please...Al-Alpha… Hold me?_ ”

He was gathered by strong arms and instantly, he felt the possessiveness return, enveloping him in wonder and security. Warren’s fingers came to the back of his neck and gently pressed until Jasper’s mouth opened of its own volition and he felt his muscles lose all tension, his eyes rolling back and his hands flopping down between them. The Alpha’s voice was warbled and muffled in his ears, ringing like a birdsong through water.

_“Everything will be better tomorrow morning. You’ve no need for worries now…”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warren: >:[
> 
> Jasper: :'[
> 
> Warren: ....fuck.


	13. Chapter 13

He held Jasper until the boy fell asleep and then gathered him up gently and lay him upon his chest, tucked so that if he moved, Warren could wake and care for him. He wasn’t entirely certain what to make of this. It was jarring and strange to have a boy who detested him come to him in the night smelling lightly of _Beta_. He did not, nevertheless, smell like sex. At least there were small comforts in life, Warren thought wryly. He wasn’t certain if he could have brought the boy into his bed otherwise and it was not so difficult to drown out Lord Rogueford’s mild aroma, replacing it with his own bold fragrance as he very carefully moved his wrists over Jasper’s back and hair.

Warren liked the way they smelled together. He and Jasper’s combined scent had become a great comfort to him over the time that the boy spent in his bed and he felt lucky in a sense that he had been graced again by his company. It had no doubt been difficult for his little Omega husband to admit to himself that he also found comfort with Warren but an overcoming of pride was something Omegas were particularly good at when it came to their own emotions. At least--that was always what Warren’s father told him. It was the Omega who conceded. Not the Alpha.

_That’s not wholly correct. I did apologize to him. Had I not apologized, would he be in my bed?_

He wasn’t sure of the answer to that but he was fairly convinced that what he’d done had helped, at least a little. There was much more to do in London that had nothing to do with his husband and yet it seemed to him that this was the matter which pressed most in his mind. He was supposed to be a proper gentleman now. He was supposed to move away from handling things himself and so he had hired a solicitor so that he might settle things through an agent of his estate. Today was the first day he had met the man who would be overseeing his wishes when it came to his family’s businesses and he would be meeting with the man for a week at the very least to hammer out the details. Still, all he could keep his mind on was that he could have been at home, making certain that Jasper was well-cared-for after their second heat together.

_I made him weep this morning. And for what? Because of my pride’s injury? Because I am bitter that I cannot become aroused by him? How could I blame him for something that is so clearly upon my own shoulders? Perhaps I simply think too much._

He sighed, the force of his breath rustling a few hairs on the side of his husband’s head as he snoozed deeply on Warren’s chest. The boy was drooling lightly on him and giving out tiny little snores which he found to be greatly endearing. It was shocking just how differently he felt about this little Omega after this heat. It was, probably, the way Jasper had come to him. He had touched him as though he truly wanted him. He had willingly asked to be touched and held. He had expressed an interest in Warren’s body that was unusual but very much welcome.

Their first heat together had been practically a nightmare compared to the dream of this one and this must have been what had called the Omega back to his bed. There was something that had happened between them--something that had appealed to the little one’s inner instincts.

_I am his Alpha. He is my Omega._

Still, the second thought was flat in his mind. It did not ring and there was no great moment of epiphany that he thought should come behind it. No trumpets, no shining halo of light. It was a dull and formless concept and though he felt, certainly, that he was responsible for the Omega, he did not feel overwhelmed with any kind of passions. Jasper was his husband. He was his mate. They had been married and bonded and that was all there was to that.

Eventually, he would take the boy to their country estate where they would settle into a life together. Warren would make the necessary changes to the house that it waited upon for want of funds and would make the various upgrades required so that life there could move forward happily. He would not keep Jasper from town, if that was where he wished to be most, but he would prefer if his name were not dripping from the lips of gossip hounds drooling over a cuckold. There was, in some cases, no avoiding it.

_But there is hope, is there not? He might be with child._

If he was, Warren certainly could not allow him to stay in London. The country was a much better environment to have a pregnant mate. The air was fresh, it was relatively secluded, and he could find a trusted country midwife rather than the gentleman doctors in town who could not help but somehow spread fever wherever they lay their hands. He would very much prefer an Omega who knew what they were doing when it came to the birth of his children. A strange surge of something hit him then and he recognized it as a pang of protectiveness. He could not let harm come to this boy.

_Is this what it means to be his Alpha? Or should I feel this way about any Omega?_

He wasn’t sure and it was this that disgruntled him. Still, even as he stewed, he managed to sleep. He hardly even recognized dozing off and it was only when he woke that he realized it had happened. The early morning light sifting in through the curtains and in between the drapes of the bed, the sliver of soft sun resting over one of his eyes.

Jasper was still on top of him but stirred at Warren’s waking, seeming to realize his placement without moving, his scent eddying sweetly between rested energy and stirring nervousness.

Warren was conscious of the reasons for such emotions immediately. Jasper, sometime in the night, had shifted so that his thigh rested snugly between Warren’s legs and this morning was most certainly aware of his piss-proud manhood rigid against it. Knowing this, he sought to diffuse that nervousness with a casual question, but he was not sure if he was successful.

“Should you like breakfast downstairs or should you like to take it in here?”

The Omega slowly lifted his head, using an offered bit of sheet to wipe saliva from his face and Warren’s chest. His cheeks were very pink. “I...I apologize for last night…” He blinked a few times, as if exorcising the sleep from his mind. “I don’t know what could have come over me.”

“Some last shred of heat, perhaps. No matter. It was not a bother. Should you require my company at night or…” he thought for a moment, unsure if he should extend such a long olive branch, “...or any other time, you will find a place near to me.”

“That is very kind of you, Alpha. I...I know that it was very boorish of me to come to you while smelling of...him… But you should know that I had not meant harm.”

“I know.” He reached for a pillow to prop under his head so that he might look at Jasper fully. “I think that we have both said and done things that are boorish. I know I’ve been graceless. It is a curse of mine...and not because of my dynamic. I cannot blame a part of myself that is inherent.”

“A learned gracelessness?” Jasper asked, the side of his mouth tipping up.

“Quite so.”

The Omega sighed. “I have not given you much reason to be anything but cold to me and so I cannot hold blame to you when you give to me everything that I have deserved. Graceless or not, Alpha, you and I have not…” He paused, worrying his pink bottom lip. “We have not fit well together…”

“I disagree,” Warren provided easily.

Jasper’s brows knitted.

He shrugged. “We’ve not given ourselves much chance, have we?”

His mate’s cheeks pinkened again while he thought, his eyes trailing down to a spot on Warren’s chest. “I...suppose not.”

“You have not answered me. Should you like breakfast downstairs or up here?”

With his scent very much a muddle, Jasper indicated that he would like his breakfast downstairs and so Warren let him go. His arms felt very empty when his husband retreated back to his own room and he stared down at his still-hard member with derision.

_You had to make things awkward with him, didn’t you? You can’t get hard when you’re supposed to but you can get hard when it will make things difficult._

Still, he joined the little one at breakfast and discovered that there was a note waiting for him. Nora wished to visit to express an apology to him and he would welcome it. It was the least she could do after the debacle she’d caused. He didn’t want to think about it any further than that, as his traitorous emotions seemed intent to suggest to him that there was something more painful lying beneath the surface of his emotions.

_She broke your damned heart, Warren Oakley._

Jasper was doing his best not to look at him throughout their breakfast together and it was only too obvious from the way his eyes kept flitting back and forth around the room. They did not speak much, studiously avoiding the topic of their marriage and whatever had occurred last night between them. Whatever that was, Warren wasn’t certain anyhow.

When Nora arrived, her brother wanted very little to do with her and neither Alpha could blame him. She held her hands in front of her and gave Warren a low bow when he received her, sitting across from him on a settee with her legs together and her eyes downward in deference to him. She was certainly humbled, he thought, and she kept mostly to the matter at hand, clearly aware that it was only the second day out of her brother’s heat.

“I came to apologize, as you know.”

He nodded.

“I am so sorry, Warren. I was so blinded by my feelings for you that I forgot to think of your own wishes. I...It just seems so strange to me to know that life has turned out like this. Is he...is he alright?”

“He is well.”

There was a silence cut only by the very faint ticking of the mantle clock.

Nora shifted, uncomfortable. “Your...your rejection of me has caused me to reflect upon myself. I’ve made a few decisions as to what I would like to do now.” When Warren did not provide input, she continued, her hands twisting in her lap. “There is a Beta girl...a very brave soul indeed, who I came to know at a recent gathering. She races small ships, wouldn’t you know? She has...invited me to sail with her.”

Warren’s brows twitched. “Sail? Nora, you’ve no knowledge of sailing…”

“She will teach me. It is far better an option than rotting as some spoilt heir, isn’t it? Even Jasper had things he wanted to do besides uphold some dwindling fortune and wait in line for some faraway title.” She sniffed. “Besides...it will get me out of England. She is departing for America in a week; it will be nice to see what all the fuss is about New York.”

“Yes,” Warren murmured, “I suppose that would be good for you. I think we all wish sometimes that we could escape some aspect of our lives.”

There was a small pause before Nora frowned. “Do you?”

He peered at her, studying the the shape of her face, the curve of her lips, and the intensity of her gaze. “I know not what it is that I should like to escape. Expectation. Duty. The weight of obligation...I have not asked for my life to be so burdened. But I--”

Jasper’s voice sounded from the door, drawing Warren’s wide eyes. “Obligation? How candidly you speak of me, Alpha.”

Warren stood quickly, as did Nora, but it was for naught as Jasper had fled.

Nora grumbled. “Oh...bullocks. Here I am apologizing and my mere presence causes mayhem. I will go, Alpha...I shall see you in a few months, I think.” Her distress was honest and apparent as she stood and gave him one last fretful bow before she departed as quickly as her brother, not even allowing him to see her off.

Alone, suddenly, Warren felt as though suddenly he were again at sea, bobbing in dark water with no hope for rescue. Fearful of the sharks, he searched his house until he found Norman in the hall, putting a hand out to pause him from his duties.

“Sir?”

“My mate...he’s been disturbed by me. A miscommunication. Where is he?”

Norman gave him a darkly commiserating expression. “He has requested to leave for your country house. Is this not your wish, Alpha?”

Warren gave pause, his eyes lingering over the designs in the carpeting. Jasper wanted to leave. He wanted to willfully separate himself. He wanted to _escape._ It was not forever and eventually, he would have to be moved to Windhaven anyway, the house being the only place that Warren could think to raise his pups. Not only was Jasper willing to leave the Alpha, he was also seemingly willing to leave his affair.

“Sir?”

“Let him go. But please, Norman…” He stared straight into the man’s eyes. “Do not leave him...and keep me informed. Of everything.”

“Of course, sir.”

He walked on to his study, sinking his hands in his pockets and staring at his desk from the door rather than sitting down at it. If only the boy had heard the rest of Warren’s thoughts. If only he could have stayed long enough for the Alpha to tell Nora how he truly felt. That he was not at all inclined to flee. That he was certain they had reached an understanding. That he was going to do his damnedest, no matter the hurt in his own soul, to do right as well as he could. He wanted to make the best of what he had. Build with the broken pieces. 

For the first time in a long time, he felt hot tears in his eyes and he blinked them away, not understanding from where they came. He had held, tenuously, to some small thread of connection with his mate that morning and, like the fragile web of a spider, it had wisped away by the wind come the afternoon. It was all he could do now to beg the little spider to grant him another chance. He would wait however long it took to be trusted again and he would hope that this was not the last of his chances.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I gave myself a haircut today. And to think I used to pay 17 dollars for this when I could just shave my head over a bag in the sink.


	14. Chapter 14

Jasper was not alone on his journey but had told Norman that he would not sit with him, forcing him to sit with the driver instead as they left London and headed off, sight unseen, to Warren’s home in the countryside. His husband’s mother and father lived a small distance from Warren’s home though Jasper was certainly not going to be pleased if they decided to invade his quiet solitude. Surely they must have known that there was tension between the two of them and they would be intelligent enough to leave him be if he was separated from his mate.

Anxiety roiled within him and was left unchecked, as Norman could not talk him through it. Eventually, he was so distraught by the idea, he was tired by the effort of worry and fell into a fretful and light bit of sleep which took him the rest of the journey. He was awoken by his valet who opened the door and gently shook him until he had stirred.

“Master Jasper, we’ve arrived and the housekeeper has drawn the staff to greet you in the front hall.”

“Oh?” He rubbed the tiredness from his eyes and slid from the coach, his legs feeling a bit weak and his eyes overly sensitive to the orange light of the sunset. It was difficult to gaze upon a house so ridiculously huge and though he had once visited his cousin’s ducal estate, he always thought that houses this large were such a waste when they were used for just one family. The marble steps were rounded and sleek and led to a veranda with a noble set of columns which hid the true face of the home. He turned about just before the large doors to peer out over the long, winding drive and the pond which held a number of white swans among the cattails and other reeds. The orange of the sunset cast long shadows over the grounds and over his heart.

“Master Jasper?” Norman asked from the door.

“It is beautiful is it not, Norman?”

His valet took in a breath through his nose. “Yes, sir. It is beautiful.”

Jasper stayed where he was for just a few more moments until the swans were all hidden behind the reeds before he turned about and wandered inside. The butler was a stately but feminine Alpha woman who insisted he called her Katerina and the housekeeper was a soft and short Omega named Mrs. Greene. Mrs. Greene, of course, was rather flustered at his sudden appearance and fussed a bit with her apron when the rest of the staff was dismissed back to their duties.

“Pardon my saying, Master Oakley, but we were under the impression that you would be remaining with your mate for the duration of his stay in London. It is no trouble at all, of course, I imagine you’re not the sort to plan the menu or anything, but if there is anything we might do for you or anything you’d like to change...”

He tried to smile for her but he wasn’t sure if he succeeded more than a small grimace. “Change nothing for me, Mrs. Greene. I’m very happy to remain out of the way.”

“Your mate wrote somewhat recently to us that you might have use for a few things and unfortunately with your early appearance, they’re not quite ready as yet. I hope you can forgive us…”

Jasper frowned and took a glance toward Norman who assured him with one little shake of his head that he knew not of what she spoke, he tried to clarify. “I could not have a wish for anything, Mrs. Greene, aside from some peace.”

She nodded resolutely. “That we can give you, certainly. Let me take you to your chamber and we’ll get you rested before supper. Perhaps there will be time for a small walk about the gardens after you’ve eaten. I’ll have the lamps lit just in case for you, as it seems as though it will be a warmer evening.”

“That would be lovely, thank you.”

She took him to his room and Norman very quickly settled his trunk--just the first of his things to come before the rest were moved--and fixed him right up within his bed. He was woken just a few hours later when his valet came to fetch him and he was dressed comfortably for supper which he took in one of the downstairs parlors rather than the vast dining room, as it was far more cozy.

Mrs. Greene came to him with a dessert of _blancmange_ encircled with slivers of brilliantly ripe strawberries and a sprig or two of fresh mint, her curtsy low. “I do not wish to bother you, Master Oakley, but you should know that Fergus is awake and you might hear him...screaming. He does get himself a little overwrought sometimes when his master is out.”

Jasper peered up at her, his confusion evident.

“Oh...Mr. Oakley probably didn’t have much of a proper time to tell you about Fergus.”

_Who is Fergus and gracious, why would he be screaming? Some brother perhaps? Some kin with a sort of pitiable affliction? Well, at the very least, I should have some company…_

“I assure you,” Mrs. Greene continued, “He cannot be heard from your room though sometimes he does escape and make his way about. Do not worry about him, he is very well taken care of.”

“He is...safe?”

“Oh very much so, though when teased, he does get a little nippy. Should you like to meet him? Surely your mate would like for you and he to get along and it has been quite some time since he has met someone new. Pardon any rudeness, we’ve tried to keep him gentlemanly but there are some things he learns naturally.”

Jasper paused for a moment and then looked about himself. “Um…well alright. I cannot think of a better time…”

Mrs. Greene beamed, crinkles forming at the edges of her eyes as she nodded. “Wonderful. I’ll bring him in. He will love you, I’m sure.”

_I certainly hope so if he is to be my only company here. I supposed I might as well meet the family’s shame sooner rather than later. A creature so pitiable that my mate’s parents do not care for him?_

A certain warmth was beginning to suffuse him as he thought that perhaps Warren was far kinder in heart than he thought. It was replaced at the first moment he met Fergus, with an enlightened embarrassment at his own thoughts.

Fergus was a _parrot_. A medium gray with white about his face and a brilliantly red tail, he bobbed his head as he was brought in and turned an intelligent yellow eye upon Jasper.

“Good lord…” Jasper breathed while Mrs. Greene smiled, setting the cat-sized bird’s stand upon a nearby table. “He’s huge.”

Fergus seemed to answer for himself, his large black beak opening before he spoke in a strangely human-like voice. _“Helloooooo…”_

Mrs. Greene gave a little curtsy again. “Well I’ll let you two get acquainted. If you need anything, sir, please ring.”

“Of course…” he tried, still staring at the bird who gave his own answer.

_“I’ll take some tea, Mrs. Greene. You know. You know how I like.”_

“Yes, yes, Fergus, we know how you like.” With that, she was gone and Jasper was alone with the creature.

 _“I’ve got a few toes, you know,”_ Fergus told him, his voice mimicking the calm but stoic tone of his Alpha owner. _“They’re on my foot. Look.”_ He lifted up one of his feet, tilting his head and staring at his own foot as though it were supposed to do something.

Jasper finally felt himself smile and a short incredulous laugh escape him, his dessert almost entirely forgotten. “I’ve got...a few fingers, you know. They’re on my hand.” He raised up his hand, spreading his fingers. The bird hopped off his perch and then off the table, waddling over the floor until he could climb his way onto the settee. By this point, Jasper had put his hand back down into his lap but the parrot very clearly stared at it where it sat.

_“Let me see. Let me. Let me see.”_

He raised his hand again, spreading out his fingers. He almost pulled away when Fergus reached forward with his beak, opening up that dangerous-looking mouth to gently grasp at the middle of Jasper’s fingers, his strange black tongue poking against it and licking him. He withdrew almost immediately, his head bobbing.

_“Chk chk chk! A bit like chicken. Chk chk! May I?”_

“May you what?”

He did not ask again and instead made his way to Jasper’s _blancmange_ , delicately reaching over and stealing one of the strawberry slices, messily eating it. The Omega, tickled, couldn’t help but chuckle. How very typical it would be for a family of such wealth to have a creature so decadent. Fergus helped himself to the rest of the strawberries while Jasper moved around him to eat the main part of the dessert, the two of them sharing rather well together before the dish was empty and Fergus puttered about the room making little clicks and whistles, picking up small decorations scattered about and bringing them to the settee, settling them down next to Jasper as though he were showing them off.

He didn’t think he’d smiled this much since before he’d become an Omega and every so often, he found himself picking things up and putting them down again when Fergus studied him intently. Eventually, when he had a relatively decent pile, he looked at the bird seriously. “These are all very lovely things. What is your favorite thing?”

Fergus stared at him quietly, either thinking or not properly understanding the question. He puttered about a little more before he decided there wasn’t much left to give and then got up upon the settee himself.

“Fergus?”

He gave a high pitched trilling sound.

“What is your favorite thing?”

His feathers rustled and then settled again, his head shaking. _“He’s a big one.”_

“Who’s a big one?”

_“He’s a big one. Chk chk chk! Fergus! Get off the bed! What a. What a little monster.”_

The evening was not at all a loss, he figured, and when he got up to go back upstairs, he picked up each of the moved pieces and tried to put them back where they came before he rang for Mrs. Greene to take Fergus back wherever he came from. The bird, however, did not wish to be taken, and hid behind Jasper’s leg, cackling much like a witch while he ran back and forth.

“He does get like this sometimes,” the housekeeper explained with a sigh.

“Well...perhaps he’ll tire of me. I’ll let him follow me if I must. He’s not at all annoying.”

“Not yet, sir. Your husband handles him very well but for most, he’s very much a thorn in their sides. If you think you’d like him to stay with you for a little while, I’ll give you some treats for him. He likes these little bits of dried fruit.”

“Oh good, send them to my room, then, we’ll do alright.” He walked and Fergus walked behind him, waddling and clicking away happily--or at least, Jasper thought he was happy--until they were in his chamber. A small covered platter of dried fruits were delivered along with a small towel upon which Fergus dutifully defecated, the action so precise and practiced that it gave Jasper pause. This was clearly no ordinary creature. 

Norman came to help him into his nightclothes and he was clearly disturbed, his brows knitted and his eyes widened in wariness.

“Norman, this is Fergus.”

“Hmm,” was his only response.

Strange as it may have been, Jasper rather liked the huge bird and fell asleep with the surprisingly light creature sitting upon his hip. When he woke in the morning, he found that Fergus was still there though he must have gotten up in the night to perform his _duty_ for the bedspread was clean and the towel was in a regrettable shape. He rolled and Fergus came to him, nibbling upon his fingers while making chirps and trills as though happy he was awake.

“You are a charming little creature, aren’t you?”

_“What a little monster! Fergus, get off the bed!”_

“Well I won’t tell you to get off the bed.” He tapped his fingertip on the bird’s beak and smiled when it was taken very gently in that massive mouth and licked until he’d gotten everything he wanted.

Norman’s response to Fergus was much the same the next day though Jasper found him to be entertaining so he kept him about, sitting in various rooms with him and even strolling in the garden where Fergus hopped onto the marble benches and cackled as he went, picking up little stones and rocks and tossing them. This was certainly diverting, Jasper thought as he watched the bird dance by bobbing his head back and forth. Sometimes he said seemingly random words or phrases that must have often been said to him. Some were in voices Jasper did not recognize and others were very clearly something Warren had told him.

_“What are you doing on the. On the floor? Get your oranges. I love you, Fergus.”_

“Oh?”

Fergus stopped, tilting one golden eye toward the Omega as he stood on the marble bench. _“Chk chk chk chk chk…”_

“He tells you that he loves you? He’s capable of love? I suppose that must be...since I think he loved Nora…” He sighed, kicking at a stone that the bird had thrown into the path. “I’m glad he loves you, though. If he loves something as obnoxious as you…”

_Then maybe...one day…_

He wrinkled his nose at his own thoughts. He didn’t want that. Did he? Had he gotten so attached to the idea that one day Rogueford’s lies might come true? Surely not. _Surely._ He tried to set the thought from his mind, turning his attention back to the one thing that had distracted him so well for the whole of the day.

“Fergus? What is your favorite room? Will you take me somewhere?”

He stood up tall on the bench, stretching his throat for a second before he lifted his head and proclaimed proudly, _“‘Out, damned spot! Out, I say!—One, two. Why, then, ’tis time to do ’t. Hell is murky!—Fie, my lord, fie! A soldier, and afeard? What need we fear who knows it, when none can call our power to account?—Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him.’”_ After his announcement, he hopped off the bench and began waddling away toward the house and Jasper followed, walking slowly behind the bird as he chittered and chirped until they were faced with an imposing set of dark wooden doors which the bird then tapped upon with his beak.

“Did you understand me?”

 _“What a little monster. ‘Come, come, come, come. Give me your hand. What’s done cannot be undone.’”_ He tapped upon the bottom of the door again with his beak and then peered up with that leering yellow eye.

“Alright, alright...where are we?” He pulled at the door, peeking around it to find a dark room clearly under construction, its previous form that of a smaller room which had been expanded into the next by knocking down the wall between them. Wood was formed into neat piles and along one wall was being built into a set of shelves which would extend from the floor to the ceiling. Fergus wandered in, heedless of the things strewn about and the wood in piles, his feet tapping along the floor until he had come to a set of crates which were open and settled near the window. The yellow and orange torchlight from the garden illuminated the contents of the crates which, upon approach, was revealed to be a multitude of books. Jasper stood as Fergus climbed the crates and peered down into them, the Omega silent as he reached out to touch the covers.

“Oh!”

He whirled about, his hand to his chest, finding only Mrs. Greene facing him from the door.

“I apologize for startling you, sir. I hadn’t expected you to find this so quickly...Mr. Oakley only sent us orders for it a little while ago and so we’ve only had about a week to work on it. We’d hoped to complete the project before you came...as a surprise…”

Jasper felt suddenly breathless. “It’s...it’s a library…”

“There was one before but Mr. Oakley decided it was not big enough for you. He said that you liked to read…” Her eyes were big, her tone soft and motherly. “Is...is that right?”

 _“‘So foul and fair a day I have not seen,’”_ Fergus crowed before he turned around, lifting up his foot. _“I’ve got a few. I’ve got. Toes, you know.”_

The Omega let out a breath, his heart hammering in his chest. “Yes...I…” He swallowed. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Greene. I must seem so ungrateful. I had not expected...this.”

She came to him, her gentle hand on his back in comfort. “I know, darling. There have been a great many things that have been very unexpected, haven’t there?”

He swallowed again, nodding as he turned toward her and let her lead him away, Fergus trailing behind, his gray feet slapping against the wood as he went.

 _“I love you, Fergus. I love you. I love you. I love you…”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fergus is a treasure and a legend.


	15. Chapter 15

It had been a week since Warren had been left alone in London and he’d done his very best to throw himself right into his work. Dealing with investors and contractors and even petty squabbling between masters workers had done much to take his mind off of the debacle that was his tattered marriage. But when the long days were over and he was forced to come back to his home where his bed lay empty, he chose most nights to wander into his study and sleep restlessly upon the davenport by the window, a quilt left hanging over the back of it for just this purpose.

None of his staff had the nerve to confront him over his strange sleeping habits or perhaps they all knew in some form or another what might have been eating at him. That he had spent so much time with his little mate in their bed and now it was difficult to adjust to the thought of sleeping alone in such a large place when it had seemed so hopeful before.

 _This is ridiculous,_ he thought, his tired eyes staring up at the ceiling of his study as he lay under the quilt. _I’ve slept alone my whole life. There is no logic to this._ He felt his lips thin and he pushed the quilt off of himself. He wandered about a little bit, stealing food from the pantry to munch on until he had finally gotten his thoughts in order enough to pull on his boots and get himself relatively presentable. His hair was still a mess and he knew he looked tired but there was no helping that.

The unmarked coach was called for and he took it, his demeanor surprisingly calm by the time he had arrived at Rogueford’s home. When the butler opened the door, he half expected to be rejected out-right. It didn’t happen. In fact, he was not only allowed inside, he was taken to a parlor and settled there rather comfortably.

He made his way to the sideboard and poured himself a brandy, looking about at the decor and wondering if the Beta lord had had a hand in it or if he’d merely been a bystander to someone else’ s vision. From what Warren knew of him, he was a rake of some kind, though he appeared a bit foppish by Warren’s standards--though many Betas now did, he conceded. He’d had the decency at the very least to bring Jasper home when he was in heat and for that, the man should be commended. There were some in London that would have been more than happy to keep a desperate Omega in their beds despite what the husband might have thought about it.

The Beta was announced by a mild and whimsical scent which turned Warren around toward the door. He smelled like a mineral spring with just the barest hint of something more fresh--like a splash of gin in tonic water. Rogueford’s expression was severe and it was probably one that did not usually grace his features, his face far more suited to an easy laugh, Warren thought. The lord raised his head and they both gave slight bows at the same moment in greeting.

“Mr. Oakley, this is a bit of a surprise. Please, if you’ll sit…”

Warren toyed with the idea of remaining standing but at the last, he moved, settling down in one of the overstuffed armchairs near the hearth, the orange light of the fire giving him a bit of a dramatic look, he thought.

“I hadn’t expected you here.”

“I hadn’t expected to come.” He could see the Beta take in a small breath through his nose at the sound of his voice, low and ominous.

Rogueford crossed the room, boldly walking past Warren and pouring himself a glass of brandy. “I assume you’ve come to tell me to stay away from your husband. I understand the sentiment, it is not as though I have not had angry Alphas come to me before. You must believe me when I tell you that I did not at all encourage him to come to me during those delicate times; in fact, I supported your edict very vocally.” He took a gulp of his brandy, leaning back against the sideboard while eying Warren with wicked eyes. “I admit my role in harming you, if I have.”

The Alpha regarded him pensively. “I do not believe you have.”

Rogueford blinked, surprised at the admission. “No?”

“No. My marriage has seen more damage from the subjected parties rather than the auxiliary. He’s gone to the country.”

“Has he?”

Warren thought for a few moments, wondering just how far he was willing to go. “You’re a relatively discreet gentleman, my Lord…”

“Relatively.”

“So can I trust that this conversation will not leave the two of us?”

“You can be sure of it.”

“When he was with you...he would ask for things.”

Rogueford nodded slightly, his eyes shifting to remember. “Yes. I promise my lovers things that they know they’ll never receive.”

“Like libraries.”

“And horses.”

“And love?”

Rogueford sucked in a breath, biting his bottom lip. “Admittedly the most popular of my casual falsities.”

“I am not a man who lies.”

The Beta licked at his lips and finished off his brandy, clicking the glass down upon the sideboard and turning again to fill it. “I cannot speak for you, Alpha. Only myself.”

“Did you always offer things or did he ask?”

Rogueford sighed. “He asked for lies. I merely provided what I thought he would like to hear.”

“Tell me what you offered him. A library, Paris...horses…”

“A dog…pearls…”

“Anything else?”

He ran a hand through his hair. “Any number of things, Alpha. I cannot remember all of them, that’s ridiculous. Books, obviously, silks, scandalous nightclothes, poetry, flowers...all sorts of things he knew he wasn’t ever going to actually get. Though the pearls I might have sprung for...and the scandalous nightclothes...”

Warren sat back, resting his head against the cushion of the chair before he took another swig of his liquor. A plan was forming but he had yet to acknowledge how he would put it into action. Norman would likely have to be his mediator for the most part and he could only hope that he would not alienate his mate further by having tried it.

“You’re thinking of...winning him over.”

He glanced up at the Beta who was smiling at him a queer little smile he didn’t like at all.

“You want to...what: seduce him? Win his affection? Win his love?”

“I cannot know what the end goal shall be for I do not know what is reasonable to expect,” he replied, irked that he was seen through so easily.

“Do you want advice?”

He hated that idea and yet… “Is that what you offer? And at what price?”

There was a strange bit of metallic in the Beta’s scent when he waved his hand in the air, dismissing the Alpha’s question. “Price? What sort of a man are you, Oakley? No, do not answer that. I know you are a business man. I do not _consult_ , I offer gentlemanly advice. I do not charge for service, that’s uncouth and...distasteful. You are my fellow gentleman.”

“You’re the first to suggest so.”

“Then I am the only decent gentleman in London. You’ve married a cousin to a Duke, however distant he might be. You’re in the family now and that means that you are a gentleman. If you wish for advice on how to get your mate to fall in love with you, I should be more than happy to assist.” He strode with his glass again full to a nearby seat and took it. “You’re at a disadvantage, of course, since he’s separated from you. How are you at poetry?”

“Dismal.”

“Then don’t bother with it. Start with something easy. A dog, perhaps. Write to him expressing that you wish to apologize...for I assume that there is something for which you should be apologizing. Alphas tend to be quite hamfisted, pardon me.”

Warren had to give him that one and tilted his head to the side to prod him onward.

“Let him know that you were thinking of him. That you hope he’s finding himself comfortable in country and by the by, aren’t the trees lovely this time of year? Does the sunset not do wonders to the landscape? Have you discovered yet, the gentle song of insects and the robins?”

He shifted, feeling his mouth tip downward. He’d not thought of any of this.

Rogueford cleared his throat. “In a week or so, perhaps send him a horse. A pony, really. Though I once told him that I would find him a very handsome, towering horse--”

Warren interjected, “I think a hackney pony would do for him.”

The Beta’s eyes lit and he leaned forward, “ _Brilliant._ Oh you and I think alike, Alpha. A nice well-bred hackney with that beautiful gait. Oh he would be a show with a pony like that. And make sure it’s a sleek black one--he’s the sort to like the darker ones.”

He nodded, in full agreement. “It cannot do to only shower him in gifts. He made me promise him to take him to Paris, but…”

“You can only do what you can. Take it one day at a time, Alpha. Rome was not built in a day. You’ve had plenty of time to be intimate with him and...oh lord...please tell me you’re not here looking for advice on that as well?” His cheeks gained a florid bit of pink high up and his eyes were on the carpet. “I...well I...I think I would have to write to you if you wanted that. Or perhaps lend you a copy of some lurid novels.”

Warren blinked. “You would do that?”

“Oh my god, are you truly asking?”

“I will admit, though it pains me, that I clearly cannot have the same experience that you have. You’re rumored to have had dozens of lovers and to be a bit loose in the haft. I’ve had but one and from his experience with you, he clearly requires more than my limited knowledge.”

The Beta was staring, his eyes wide, on the floor. “Oh my lord, you are a rare man. I find myself very uniquely jealous. Nevertheless, I will help you. Though I cannot bring myself to explain it all here. If you will allow it, I will...I will write it. It will be much easier should I not be stared at by you. I do not think I can trust any Alpha who may suddenly realize the extent of my affair with their own mate.”

Warren let out a sniff that might have been a laugh. “I think I can comprehend your tentativeness in the endeavor...but it will be useful to me...eventually, I hope.”

“In all seriousness, Alpha, I hope so as well. I think there is more warmth in his heart toward you than you think.”

“I cannot see why that would be. I am, to him, the reason his life is so different now.”

“Not exactly. His presentation is what has him angry, you just happen to be the party most representative of that.”

“And his sister. Nora…”

“Nora didn’t have to marry him, did she? Though it seems she’s having just as difficult a time of it as you are. But her role is far more complex than yours. You need to do something for him, and it might seem very difficult but in reality it’s very simple.” He leaned forward, putting his elbows on his knees while he looked at Warren intensely. “You need to show him that you’re not frightening.”

Warren pulled up his brows. “What?”

“You, Mr. Oakley, are an imposing and intimidating man. When you walk into a room, you are the largest Alpha that some men have ever seen. In fact, the only Alpha I’ve ever known taller than you are is Jasper’s Duke of a cousin and you might give him a run for his money. You have not smiled a single time you have been in this room, even when you found something amusing.” He gestured with his hands as if to emphasize. “I am small. I am not intimidating. I am not at all frightening. I have an advantage of a sort simply because if your mate wished to get away from me, he very well could. But you? Not at all. So before you see him next, you must consider how you present yourself to him.”

Sighing, Warren turned his head toward the door. “You can coach me on that later...as it stands, I don’t see myself having any contact with him in the near future. That is, unless he decides to come back to London for some reason. I doubt that will happen…”

“Perhaps not. I will write you, Oakley. If you want a boy to fall in love with you, then well...I suppose we’ll do our best for it.”

He nodded, standing up and finishing his brandy before he set the glass down. When he was at the door, he paused. “Thank you…”

“My pleasure.”

“You’re a...very strange Beta.”

Rogueford gave a small laugh behind him. “Yes. So I’ve been told.”

The next morning, Warren went about his normal routine for the most part until he stopped to talk to a well-known breeder of hunting dogs. All of his puppies were of good stock but when Warren suggested that he was looking for a gift for his mate, he was shown instead to the breeder’s Omega husband who cheerily led him around to the other side of their house where a set of King Charles Spaniels were playing with their small litter of puppies. The Omega plucked one up from the floor and very easily set it into Warren’s hold, the soft bit of fur absolutely dwarfed by his hands.

“Very loving, they are,” the Omega told him. “And every Omega loves a soft little pup. Helps them think more about their own pups. Helps them become better mothers, I think. Just look at their cute little eyes. How could anyone say no to that?”

Warren did look at the puppy in his hands, feeling a startling amount of protectiveness surging within him from just the one look. He peered at the man with a severe look. “Are you some kind of wizard?”

He laughed, his giggles causing strange little bubbles to rise up in Warren’s chest. Something like _elation._ _What I wouldn’t give to hear him laugh like that…_

He bought the puppy. Of course he bought the puppy. And when the little thing was chewing at his boots and romping about in his room, giving out playful little barks while he was sitting at his writing desk, he couldn’t help but be charmed by it. He was also annoyed. Not by the soft little thing that needed constant attention--he was used to that--but by his own inability to write this damned letter to his husband. What did one say when they had been summarily rejected?

He scribbled a few notes on his blotter before he finally decided on something that would do. It was simple and it held what he wished to say. Perhaps Rogueford could give him tips on how to be more refined in his letters in the future but for now, he hoped this would be enough. Folding the parchment over, he sealed it with wax and blew out the candle, scooping up the spaniel and bringing it to his bed with him. If he could not sleep here without Jasper, perhaps just for this night, he could sleep here with this. The dog chewed at his fingers for a little while before curling up upon his chest, the two of them dozing together as the night moved on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warren swallowing his pride and sitting in Ben's parlor: we love to see it.


	16. Chapter 16

> _Dear M. Oakley,_

> _I hope all is well and that you’ve found the house to your liking. I am sorry I did not warn you about Fergus. If he is a burden to you, you may have Mrs. Greene send him along to me here in London. I do hope he is not, however, for the air here makes him gloomy and unwell._

> _I have thought much about your solitude there with only a troublesome parrot for company. Please do not think me overly presumptuous, for my gift is with the best of intent._

> _Yours, W._

Jasper looked down at the hopping little spaniel at his feet as he stood outside, wanting very much to be able to dismiss that it was possible for this note to have been written by the Alpha he’d been married to for months. Unfortunately, everything pointed to the fact that it was most assuredly by Warren’s own hand and his own heart. The sloping, spidery hand and the basic, stunted prose were unmistakable.

_I have thought much about your solitude there…_

He picked up the dog, allowing his face to be licked and sniffed as the courier who’d delivered him moved back toward his bicycle and got on it, leaving him with a slight bow of his head. He almost didn’t want to acknowledge the note, wishing perhaps that he might throw it to the side and forget about it. What was stopping him? He felt the soft little sniffs and licks on the underside of his jaw and his heart flipped as he chastised himself for feeling touched.

_A library...a dog…_

It was all just a coincidence, surely. He’d never asked Warren for a dog. He’d never asked for that lie from his husband. Had he? Of course, if he had, he supposed it was not a lie now. He felt a tug inside him and could not deny it. He transformed the feeling into what he thought it ought to be--some irksome piece of rubbish. Still, even as he thought he’d rid of it, it returned as though it were some loathsome spirit set to haunt him.

He paced in the house, the dog and Fergus both competing for his attentions as he walked from room to room and sometimes went to peek at the work being done upon what promised to be a very lovely library. He wondered if Warren had described it down to the last detail or if he left that up to someone else. Perhaps Mrs. Greene. It was this thought that led him to find her and she peer up at him sweetly when he arrived by her side.

“What is it, Master Oakley? Do you need to alter the menu?”

“No I…” He paused for a moment, leaning over to pick up the little spaniel. “I was wondering about the library…”

“Oh they should have it all finished in about two weeks I imagine, though there may be some dust still about we’ll have to clean up. It’s going to be a very nice room and hopefully it will see much more use than the old one with you about it.” Her cheeks were rosy and her voice cheery. She had taken a liking to him, though he didn’t understand why. He was very quiet and avoided most everyone besides Norman.

“I was wondering if Mr. Oakley hired someone to design it...or leaned upon you for your thoughts…”

“Oh? Me? No, no,” she laughed happily, “Mr. Oakley has a very good imagination for how things look. Not only did he send us letters, he also sent sketches. Have you seen his sketches? He is very good and he has a beautiful memory.”

Jasper felt his cheeks heat. Warren could sketch? He felt suddenly embarrassed for having been married to a man for several months and knowing so little about him. He was distracted by the thought by Fergus tugging on the leg of his trousers and he turned down to peer at the bird who opened his wings as if to convey some meaning.

Mrs. Greene frowned at him. “Oh you little jealous cretin. Always the center of attention. Let the poor dog have his day, would you?”

_“‘Yet do I fear thy nature, it is too full o’ th’ milk of human kindness…’”_

“Yes, yes,” Mrs. Greene sighed, “Now leave be.” She turned her attentions back to Jasper. “Was there anything else you needed, dear?”

“N-No...thank you. You’ve helped me a great deal.”

She nodded at him, her cheery smile one then tinged by curiosity.

She was right to be curious, he supposed. His coming here without his husband had sent the whole place into disarray and had caused a fair bit of confusion. He discovered this upon the next morning when he was awakened by Norman and informed that Warren’s parents had not received the news that he was alone and in fact thought that their son had accompanied him. They had arrived early, Ivan Oakley having walked right into the foyer and demanding to see his only son only to be told that the man was still in London. Nonplussed, they had settled them into one of the guest rooms and it was upon Jasper’s shoulders to play host.

_Oh for the love of it all._

He found both of Warren’s parents, Ivan and Eleanor, seated together in the largest of the parlors downstairs and he greeted them with a low bow, noting the stiffness of his father-in-law’s posture and the slicing sharpness to his gaze. An instinct alighted in Jasper’s mind which told him to be on his guard. This Alpha seemed strange and in some way dangerous, though he could not discern just yet what had caused the sensation.

“Good morning. I hope I did not cause you to wait long.” Ivan had stood at his entry and sat when Jasper did, eyeing him with a cold regard.

The Alpha spoke, his words easy. “We’d been told that the house was again occupied but we’d not realized that our son did not accompany you.”

“Yes...my mate had more pressing matters of business to attend to and so I came upon my own accord. I wished to gain a familiarity for this place as I am sure I will spend much time here.” Jasper had always been a masterful liar when it counted and he saw the belief in their expressions immediately. It was imperative that no one of Warren’s family know anything about the tensions between them or they may try to interfere. That was the last thing he needed.

Ivan’s tone was brusque. “Well, it seems our coming was wasted, as it was not you to whom I wished to speak. We will stay one night more to rest and then be on our way. I am certain you are not the sort of man who wishes to dote upon us hand and foot so we will certainly not become a burden.”

Despite his bluntness, Jasper felt an odd relief surge through him. He certainly thought he could see where Warren gained his open speech, but the older Alpha’s voice was much harder and louder than his son’s and still Jasper could feel that stinging warning in the back of his mind.

_Danger. Guard. Avoid._

Eleanor sat with her legs together and crossed at the ankle to the side, her hands folded in her lap and her eyes focused upon a spot just in front of Jasper’s feet. In a pale muslin gown fit for the morning, she appeared like some sort of fairy godmother and perhaps this was where Warren had gained his pensive manner and his soft approach. Jasper remembered the first time Warren had taken him and bonded him--a mixture of both tender force and potent brutality and he could truly understand it now when he was trapped in a parlor with the two sides of Warren’s formation. She did not speak and appeared in utter deference to her Alpha; the perfect Omega wife in all ways. Present, silent, and without opinion.

He wondered what sort of secrets she knew. He wondered what the depths of her knowledge were. He had been married to her son for months and knew so little about him that he was not even sure where to begin in understand his actions or his thoughts. Warren’s father could be of no use to him, but his mother…

He spoke, his words very mild in nature but firmer than those of a typical Omega. “I wondered, perhaps, if Mrs. Oakley might stay with me for a time. Perhaps a few days? I had not thought myself to present as I have and so I have no experience in running a household, nor anyone to educate me beyond Mrs. Greene. I would surely benefit from her expertise in the matter and I would greatly appreciate becoming closer to the close family of my mate.” He swallowed as Ivan returned a severe stare. “As he has no...no siblings, I am at your mercy for such a request.”

Ivan spared a dispassionate glance to Eleanor who did not move her eyes beyond looking a little more upward to Jasper’s knees. “She can stay. But only for a week or so. I will send for her.” He stood up, giving Jasper a polite bow before he strode from the room without another word, leaving he and Eleanor together.

The older Omega lifted her head finally and peered at him with a serious gaze. “You’re a very bold little one. I see Warren was right when he wrote of your nature.”

His breath nearly caught in his throat. “He...wrote of me?”

She smiled, looking toward the door where her mate had gone before she turned back to him. “Of course he does. He’s told me many things about you. How you are very headstrong and willful. He finds those aspects of you to be very interesting though you seldom engage him in conversation.”

Jasper was suddenly regretting very much his request to keep this woman in the house with him.

She was still smiling, warm and almost affectionate. “He can be a very passive Alpha though I think his size and his manner of speech gives the opposite impression, do you not agree?”

“I...I suppose…”

“He told me that he was very clumsy with you at the first. I hope he has gotten a little better over these past few months. I wish there had been more time for you to become acquainted.”

His lips were trembling and his heart was in his throat. He could hardly reply to her and as soon as he thought he could, he was rescued from his fumbling excuses and responses by a shouted bit of Macbeth.

_“‘To know my deed, ’twere best not know myself!’”_

Eleanor’s smile widened into a delighted grin and she turned her face toward where Fergus stood near the door. “Fergus, my love. Come here, would you? Did you stay away for Ivan? I know he does not like you at all and what an unfair dislike it is.” She put out her arms and Fergus came to her easily, hopping up into her lap with one beat of his wings, letting her pet his head and bring him to her bosom for a light embrace.

Fortunately, the arrival of Fergus allowed for the conversation to flow away from Warren and toward more simple things for Jasper to focus upon. He fell into an easy companionship with Eleanor then, following her soft directions and finding her to be much more herself without her husband about, her chin higher and her eyes sharper. She touched him easily, a gentle brush of her fingers over his elbow or his shoulder nearly essential to her relationship with him and he came to be used to it, even to crave that small motherly affection. She called him things like ‘Omega’ and ‘little one’ and from the gentle lilting sound of her voice, like powder over dough, he accepted it and was soothed by it and never once did he think to correct her as though her casual mention of his dynamic were only natural and right. Their conversation would not return to the subject of his mate until a few days later when another of his letters arrived and Jasper was called out to the veranda yet again to receive it.

Eleanor strode slowly behind him and came to his side as he stood gawking, her voice light and caught by the wind. “Oh how beautiful. Look at it, little one, how charming a gift.”

Jasper’s heart was hammering in his chest. The sleek black pony stood with his head held high and proud, his ears pricked up and his tail like a flag from his rump. His front legs were accented by two white socks and his back legs by one white stocking on the left. He was shiny and well-groomed even after having been taken all the way here and Jasper was immediately asked if he would like him saddled.

“I...I…” He could hardly breathe. He nearly forgot the parchment in his hand.

_I never asked for a pony, did I? I remember this promise and it was not one spoken by my mate. It was not one to be taken seriously. Oh my god, am I losing my mind?_

“Jasper?” Eleanor asked, touching him sweetly upon his arm which caused him to flinch. “What’s wrong?”

He looked at her, his eyes wide and confused. “I am...I don’t…”

She reached and put the backs of her fingers to his forehead. “Are you feeling sick?”

“No, I...I do not deserve this.”

She sniffed out a little laugh, her mouth curving. “It is not about what you deserve. It is about how your Alpha thinks of you. Now. Gather your nerve. I should like to see you ride.”

Bolstered by her, he agreed, hiding in his room and tucking the letter into his pillowcase before he changed his boots and outfit and came out again after the pony had been saddled. It was a lovely ride, the pony a hackney with a very proud trot which put a wide grin onto his face as he took him about the grounds and showed him off for Eleanor’s amusement. He was a charming little pony with a pride in his step and who very much enjoyed to be admired. He resisted walking as much as he could, seeking always to trot and strut about as though he were the peacock of ponies. Even when he was tired out from his show, he did not wish to be brought to the stables and nosed at Jasper, butting him with his snout and even nibbling his clothes to draw him back.

“You little ruffian,” Jasper admonished him, petting his nose kindly before he left, his spirits at least a little lightened by the exertion. He was met at the door to the stables by the spaniel pup who bounced at his feet, his feathered fur around his paws muddy from play.

Eleanor greeted him, her eyes filled with laughter. “What a beautiful, darling pony. What will you call him?”

Jasper was still smiling, his grin beginning to ache in his cheeks. “Ace, I think. And I’ve yet to name this little thing,” he mentioned, leaning down to pick up the pup, ignoring the dirt that streaked his clothes. “Perhaps Apollo, for he does seem to bring sunshine into my days…”

The other Omega put her hands together at her breast. “What a joyous name for him...and how generous of your mate to bless you so with such fine gifts. He surely must miss you and think of you often.”

That sharp, familiar tug against his heart was back and he felt his grin slipping.

Eleanor, sensing it, put out her hand and touched at Apollo’s little head, coming closer to Jasper’s side. “It is never about what you think you deserve from him. You need not be kind to him to gain his affections. He is a very giving Alpha, though he may not seem it, and he will be free with his affection when he feels it...and he feels it, I know. You will feel your own in due time...you need not rush for his sake.”

He drew up his eyes to her. “How do you know my emotions so well?”

She smiled at him, still petting Apollo’s little head. “You hold yourself together well but for a mother, you are as transparent as glass. It is in your eyes, and your scent. You are so unsure...so hesitant to betray any sort of affection as though it would be weakness to show softness. Some Omegas never embrace how gentle they can be, but you are gentle without even knowing it and you fight it even so.” She drew in a long breath through her nose, as if to study him along with the fresh late summer air. “You’ve let him hold your body but you’ve cordoned off your heart.”

“He hurt me,” Jasper blurted, the words not accusing but confessed as though he were the perpetrator of the act and not his husband.

“I know.”

“You know?”

“Of course I know. He told me. And I will never suggest to you that you must forgive him. You are not beholden to him for his apologies and he knows that. He will make them, nevertheless, in the attempt to soothe his own conscience and gain your undeserved affection.”

“Undeserved…”

She touched him then, passing the backs of her fingers against his temple. “You’ve been seeing this all backwards, little one. It is not you who do not deserve affection. It is your mate. Should you one day let your gentle nature forgive him and fall in love with him, it will be against your better judgement, but please know this, Omega...” She cupped his cheek and drew his eyes. “He will love you fiercely and you will find no Alpha more loyal and steadfast than he. For I raised him to be better and to do better and he will not disappoint me again.”

Jasper swallowed hard, uncertain and then feeling rather free though weighted by that freedom. He could build stone walls high enough to keep Warren’s affections apart from him, but how long could they last against the pressure he felt from within? Deep down, he knew that he wished for warmth and for something meaningful. It was why the shallow connection he had held with Ben could tempt him no more. It was nothing compared to the pulse of something more he felt burning inside. He _wanted_ to love. But could he bring himself to love a man who had held him down and humiliated him? Who had shown him what it meant to be an Omega--to be degraded and violated by the right of a ruling Alpha?

His voice sounded weak. “I do not know if I can…”

“You will know eventually. And if you cannot, then you should feel no shame in it. There are many mates who do not hold love between them.” At the first, her statement was delivered very bluntly but it resonated hard through the halls of Jasper’s mind and he felt a desperate longing within as he realized the truth of Eleanor’s life and bond.

_I don’t want that. I want to love and be loved. I want to be able to know him...but can I bring myself to it?_

He took himself back to his room to change for supper and Norman was already there with a small bath for Apollo, his affections very clear toward the dog as they were not for the parrot. When he was presentable, he found that he had a few minutes and so he pulled the letter from its place in his pillowcase, sure that Norman was busy with the dog so he might not watch Jasper’s expressions as he read.

> _Dear M. Oakley,_

> _I have thought about your occupations and what might keep you engaged while you are alone. I hope that you find amusement in this gift, for I spent a long time in consideration of him for his likeness to your own attributes in both style and temperament. Please enjoy him along the grounds for I know you both are spirited and will find much in common._

> _Yours, W._

> _P.S. Please do not think me brash to mention that it is very empty in this house without your presence. I think of you often and I hope that my admission here does not cause you discomfort. I find I must tell you this, for I cannot quiet my mind should I leave it unsaid._

Jasper folded it up again and tucked it back in the pillowcase, his heart squeezing hard before he sank down to the chair at the writing desk. He pulled a piece of parchment from the stack and prepared his pen and his ink, staring down at the page with his mind a muddle. After a long while, he touched the tip of the pen to the page and began.

> _Dear Ben..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got into my cups a little bit tonight and forgot to update. x'D
> 
> Leave me a comment! :D I love them!!!


	17. Chapter 17

“Dear Ben,” Rogueford started, his voice sounding like a fine-tuned instrument. There was really no wonder Omegas found him very attractive, Warren thought glumly as he sat in the man’s parlor, staring out the window. “I have received several gifts from my mate this week and their arrival has puzzled me and sent me into wild confusion.”

Warren made a soft sound of comprehension and shifted in his seat, staring out at the cobblestone past the wrought iron gate. It was raining, as it often did in England this time of year, and he couldn’t help but feel that the gray of the skies matched the gray in his heart. He wished he’d kept the puppy. At least then, he would not be so lonely.

“I know not what to do. I have never been so reminded of someone at every moment. His mother is here and she speaks of him with such gentle tone and admires me so deeply that it feels as though she has truly come to think of me as another son. I cannot explain how this pains me, as I feel as though I am a false mate.”

“Stop,” Warren replied, his fingers to his mouth. “Stop, please. I cannot hear it.”

Rogueford set the letter down in his lap. “Is this not the intended effect?”

“I do not mean to make him feel guilty. I want him to realize that I...”

“That you what?”

He struggled with himself, still staring out the window while his brows tilted ever downward. “That I don’t blame him. For...hating me.”

“He does not hate you. How dramatic.”

He sighed through his nose, feeling useless and frayed. The diffused light that was shining from the clouds outside was straining his eyes and he leaned back in his seat, feeling more like brandy than tea even as he looked over at his steaming tea cup. He had visited Rogueford several times now and the man was constantly in a state of serene poise, his long-fingered hands gracefully moving as he spoke to accentuate his points while he made them. Whenever Warren’s attention was brought to them, he began to feel the unfamiliar twinge of jealousy.

Rogueford took a sip of his tea. “There is great promise in this note.”

“If there was great promise, he would have written to _me._ ”

“Not necessarily. He’s embarrassed.”

Warren pinched at the bridge of his nose, feeling more unhinged with every second he spent here. It was cozy and warm and this man in front of him had probably fucked dozens of married Omegas right on that davenport across from where he sat. “What, in the devil’s name, could he be embarrassed about?”

“I think he likes you.”

“You think he likes me?” His heart squeezed for a moment but he didn’t dare let himself go so far as to hope. “Why would you say that?”

The Beta lifted the letter between two fingers and shook it while he took another sip of tea.

“Alright, damn it, read the rest of it.”

He smiled, setting down his cup in its saucer and refocused on the parchment. “I have been informed of so many things about him that I did not care to know. I am slowly coming to realize that his nature is one built not by his sex or by the will of some divine but by the cruel hand of Eleanor’s mate. She is so timid, Ben, I wish I could properly convey it. I see now how a man could become so hardened in such a home and I wish somehow I could reconcile my feelings about the matter on my own. He was cruel to me once for the sake of duty and I was cruel in return. I know well my bitterness toward my presentation and I have the barest understanding of his own struggle. I am surrounded by reminders of his will in my life. When will I begin to feel as though I am master of my own destiny? Perhaps that, itself, is too fanciful a notion for a boy like me--an Omega.”

Rogueford stopped and looked up to Warren. “You’re very tense.”

“Is there more?”

“No.”

He closed his eyes and felt a lump form in the base of his throat. “I’ve damaged him.”

“To be fair,” Rogueford supplied, folding the note and setting it upon the low table between them, “he was damaged very much by his circumstances before you. He was much like a matchstick thrown into the wind and his marriage to you did not give him calm but instead merely validated all of his fears.”

“I handled him roughly. I…” He felt a strange emotion tumble over him, one had not felt in many years. _Shame._ “I…”

“You have a mechanism by which you protect yourself. It is this hard, masculine exterior, a very _Alpha_ way of being. You did not wish for him to see you as weak or vulnerable and so you went about everything with him how you might with a complete stranger. After all,” Rogueford went on, “he _was_ a complete stranger! But what you failed to remember in those moments was that you and he were not always going to remain strangers.”

“I suppose we are now…”

“Dramatics. Again. Spare me. You have everything going for you here. His sister vouched for you, your mother speaks well of you, and he has constant reminders of you that are more positive than they are negative. Who are you, really, Oakley? Are you that stony man who held his mate down into the grass and rutted him cruelly? Or are you the man who sits in my parlor today showing his soft underbelly to one who should be, by all rights, his enemy?”

“Obviously, I am both.”

“Then take responsibility for both.” Rogueford stood. “He’s an Omega. As much as he does not wish to be treated as so, he is a romantic and like all romantics, he wishes that he could have been _romanced_.”

Warren looked up at him dully, unsure what he was implying until the Beta turned to him with a flourish and came down on one knee, reaching out toward Warren with a smoldering gaze. “Bring yourself to him like this. Show him your soft underbelly. Let him tear into you with the bite of his anger and sacrifice yourself for the sake of your affection.”

“I do not know if I can.”

“Why not? You’ve come to me as a man resolved to change, what should be the harm in doing so to your mate?”

“If he rejects me, I will be saddled with that rejection for the rest of my life. And if he accepts me…” He sank into himself.

“If he accepts you, then you pull him into your arms and you kiss him like a man starved who has found sustenance for the first time!” He held his fists to his chest as though he portrayed a character on stage. “You lay him down upon your marriage bed and…” Rogueford paused, his face changing suddenly as he seemed to remember something pertinent and he swallowed, sobering. “Oh…”

Warren covered his face. “He told you.”

“Well…” It sounded strangled and unsure as the Beta stood up, striding to the tea tray where he poured himself another cup. “You know...I’ll tell you what I told him about it.”

“And what’s that?”

“You’re too far in your own head. Sometimes all it takes for some men is the confirmation that someone cares for him. And if he cares for you and he wants you and he’s a willing partner...perhaps that’s all there is to it.”

“And what if it’s not?”

“Then you work together and you find out what it is. And if it still happens, then you know what you do, Alpha? You get on your damned knees and you put his little cock in your mouth and you please him. You may show your affections with any body part you care to but you can’t leave the poor boy without.” He brandished his finger at the Alpha who was again looking at him. “Just don’t nick him with your teeth and you’ll have a fine time of it. Remind me to give you a book before you leave. I borrowed it though, so you’ll have to give it back.”

“You may give me all of this advice and all these books and they will still not help me. What he needs isn’t my mouth or my...other parts. What about his real question? At the end? How do I make him feel as though he is the master of his own destiny? I’ve taken that from him…”

“No you haven’t. You’re merely the aspect of his circumstance that is most tangible. What drew his power away from him is his presentation and his marriage to you.”

Warren shook his head. “If he had never married me, he would still have these same thoughts. I see what you mean. But my Lord...how do I stop that? How do I let him decide his own fate?”

Rogueford started at him pensively, his voice very serious. “You put your life in his hands. You put your happiness in his hands. You do not wish to guilt him with your affections and so you must present him with a promise before you confess…”

He drew in a deep breath. “That should he reject me…”

“You should never pursue him again. Heats, then, and children will all you will ever have in common. You should buy him his own house...and aside from heat, you should leave him be.”

“Forever.” Warren couldn’t sit anymore, standing in his anxious state and pacing near the door. “I don’t know. I don’t know if I can do that. I don’t know if I’m strong enough. My pride is too great.”

“Give him privacy. Do not ask until you are alone.”

He could feel himself trembling, shaking as a dried, withered leaf in the winter wind. “You were his lover...you know him better than I do...what are my chances?”

Rogueford made a soft little grimace. “Either way...I think…though...this might be very odd for me to say and you might take offense...if he does reject you, you might come back here.”

Warren’s head jerked up toward the Beta, his brow popping up before the meaning of Rogueford’s words hit him and he blinked with surprise. “I...think I’ll pass. Thanks.” Gods, he thought, didn’t that just make sense. Rogueford always did seem a bit foppish, he added with another blink.

The Lord shrugged, sipping the rest of his tea before he mumbled into his cup. “ _Never hurts to try._ ” Clearing his throat, he nodded resolutely. “Alright, well. You’ve your plan of attack and I think you’ll do well with it. Oh. And in the case that he doesn’t reject you, you’ll want to bring a string of pearls with you.”

“Pearls?”

“Yes. He’ll know what to do with them.”

“Right.” He got up and bade his host farewell, thanking him for his advice before he left, fitting his hat onto his head before he walked out into the sunshine and looked up, an easy curse falling out of his mouth. “Oh, bullocks.”

An open curricle was sitting just outside and a familiar Omega was inside it, her parasol open to protect her from the soft glare of the sun as she waited for him, her eyes glinting with purpose beneath the brim of her bonnet. Warren sighed when she motioned for him, coming near to her and fixing her with what he knew was a cold stare. 

“Good afternoon, Mr. Oakley. Get in.”

“I’d rather not.”

“Do not be rude,” she chided him. “I’d rather not speak with you either but we’ve all got our little parts to play, don’t we? I was surprised to find out that you were here, as I was told that you had encouraged your husband’s little indiscretions and not quashed them as I had expected you would. A choice that was rather _ill-advised._ Now get in.” She shuffled over and when he had finally relented, she told her driver to make a long circuit.

When they had begun, Warren waited until they were a small ways along before he peered over at Lady Hayworth, suspicious. “Am I being kidnapped?”

“Only for a short while,” she replied easily. “You did not do your duty and now you’ve got to see me again. Most of you Alphas react in very predictable fashions but you, Mr. Oakley, do not. I’m here because the parties who often ask for my assistance believe that I’ve a softer hand.”

A vague mass of irritation plagued him. “You mean you are here at someone’s request? Someone who seeks to meddle in my marriage? Who?”

“Would it make a difference for me to tell you that it is the little one’s own family? They cannot ask _him_ for he is of stubborn stock and now I see very well that you two were practically cut from the same cloth.” She fluffed up, readjusting her skirts with her annoyance. “You’re both making this very difficult for yourselves. His parents and your parents had a very distinct agreement with each other. The existence of an affair and one that could threaten the legitimacy of a child between you would spell disaster for relationships among your kin. I don’t like being very up front with all of this to the parties involved but since you’re not the sort to do what’s expected of you, I find it must be this way.” She sniffed with disapproval. “A _savage_ method, I say.”

Warren felt as though someone had lodged a stake right next to his heart. “He’s in the country. Rogueford is hardly a threat...in fact, he’s…” He sighed.

“I hope _you’re_ not sleeping with him.”

He let out a strangled sound which drew up upon her face an incredulous brow. “ _No._ I swear all you Lords and Ladies must be absolutely fit for Bedlam… Is there anyone who _isn’t_ obsessed with…” He let out a little scoff as if the sound could truly embody his frustrations.

She shook her head with a tiny roll of her eyes. “Alpha, you ought to read the papers a bit more. Or perhaps you ought to take a small trip. To your country house.”

“And what will you do if I do not?” he asked, his eyes alight with challenge. “Are you going to bring your curricle around and beat me with your disapproval until I relent?”

She let out a small breath through her nose, remaining quiet for some time while the horse drew them back along the road toward Rogueford’s home. When she did speak, her tone was very serious, drawn down to a low tone that implied there could be no argument. “The next time it becomes necessary to speak with you, Mr. Oakley, I will not be the one who will be ambushing you where you have no other recourse.”

“And who will be?”

“Jasper’s cousin.”

He sniffed, humored. Jasper’s paunchy cousin was less threatening than a boiled haddock. “Handel? What is Handel going to do to me?”

Her brows were tight. “A little more distant of a cousin, Alpha. Think, perhaps-- _a Duke_.”

The curricle slowed again before Rogueford’s house and Warren didn’t move at first, the only thing left to him silence for there was nothing else to say.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooooooh, boyyyyy, you in trouble now.


	18. Chapter 18

Jasper received a letter notifying him of Warren’s imminent arrival about three days before the Alpha walked through the foyer, his coat and hat taken immediately by Katerina who seemed overjoyed to have him back. Her smile was wide and she passed a very proud expression toward Jasper who had come to greet his husband as a matter of duty. The Omega was almost strung along by the woman’s elevated mood but held back his smile, only letting his lips pinch a little bit before he gave his husband a mutual bow. With Katerina and most of the other servants about, Jasper was feeling a very heavy bit of strain to _perform_ in his role.

Fortunately, Warren came to his rescue with his passive, stony visage and his low, calming tone. “I hadn’t expected such a greeting. It is good to see you, Jasper.”

“It was no trouble,” he replied softly, his hands clasped in front of him. “Your mother left us a week ago...I am certain if she had known you would arrive so soon, perhaps her mate would have allowed her to stay…”

The mention of his father seemed to put a cloud of something over his expression though it was so subtle, Jasper wasn’t sure of it at first. “Hmm. I hope all was well here for her visit…”

“Of course. We have all been very well. Even Fergus.”

The mention of the parrot lightened the Alpha’s features considerably and Jasper felt a stirring of curiosity in his guts, churning about with all the other emotions he wasn’t sure how to qualify. For three days he had been stewing over his feelings, unable to settle on how he would react to the Alpha’s presence again. He had at first been delighted to know that Warren would be around--that perhaps he could have a chance to recreate the pleasant sensation of being held in warm Alpha arms again. That delight had quickly soured when he’d reminded himself of Warren’s natural coldness and he had spent all this time oscillating between being glad to know his husband was arriving and reminding himself that the man did not deserve to be so welcomed.

Still, there was something primal inside him that longed again for touch. He had noted that in the weeks he was alone here, he felt a distinctive neediness when he thought of sex and he even found himself nesting despite being not at all close to heat. He held firm pillows tightly to his body, laying on top of them as though they might simulate a mate and in the mornings, when he was randy, he would sometimes rub himself against them or his hand until he could find release and it was especially in those moments that he missed his mate’s scent. Though he wrote to Ben and even had some of his correspondences at hand, he did not think to smell them during these tender moments.

This lingering frustration had followed him here and was only intensified by seeing him and smelling him and discovering that he really was as big as Jasper remembered. It seemed that the less sophisticated aspects of Jasper’s mind were pleading with him to beg forgiveness--to forget everything that had happened before and plead for protection and for touch and for the sort of affection Eleanor had suggested was possible. He fought the impulses, thankful when Mrs. Greene cheerily led the way toward where Fergus was kept though he did happen to look up when Warren passed him, discovering that to his surprise, the man had peered down at him in the same moment, their eyes meeting for a single second that was fleeting in time and yet lingering in memory.

He followed, staying a little far back from the Alpha’s heels until he could stop in the doorway and watch Warren’s reunion with the beloved pet. This, he decided, was a terrible idea. For anyone else, this would have been a wonderful moment to observe between a man and his pet but for Jasper--this would prove to be devastating. For all the emotion that he had not seen in Warren when the man had come through the threshold of the wide front door to see his mate come to greet him, he saw it all here now with Fergus. Specifically, there was one aspect he saw now that he had never before witnessed upon his husband’s face--a _smile._ It struck him as fascinating in this very moment to realize that he had _never seen Warren Oakley smile_ but Fergus was screaming his delight, trilling and yelling nonsensical bits of Macbeth and other phrases as Warren held his arms out in greeting, a wide grin spread from ear to ear.

_My god, what is wrong with me? My heart is burning. I want him to look at me. I want to see the light of him cast upon me. Am I jealous of a bird? A simple animal? Am I so profoundly disturbed to see this man show such obvious preference for his most adoring companion? Perhaps if I were to scream and flap my wings and show such affection toward him, I should be so blessed to inspire it in return._

He felt useless, his arms at his sides and his heart pounding. To see an easy smile distort the man’s features into much more than handsomeness--a glorious alteration of form which was beyond man.

_He looks like a Roman god, huge and mighty and nearly unreachable by my mere mortal power._

Warren held the bird even rubbing his face against Fergus’ head and smelling at his feathers as though he were smelling a family member, moving to tuck the little gray head beneath his chin and scent him. Jasper felt another stab of jealousy deep inside him and with it, he felt the urge to flee and so he did, silently retreating from the room and settling himself upon one of the marble benches in the garden so as to not be in the way of anyone who might be useful for Warren’s return.

He stayed there for a while, looking at the flowers that had grown over the course of the summer and watching a large orb weaver spider tending to her web between the delphinium flowers. The sun moved through the sky and still he watched her. When the stones of the path crunched behind him, he expected Norman’s soft and mild voice to tell him that supper was ready and that he was welcome to come to the dining room when he was ready. But it wasn’t Norman who spoke and his heart tightened in his chest at the low, rumbling tone of his mate.

“Are you feeling alright, Jasper?”

His hands were held in his lap, tight together. “I am feeling fine, Alpha. Was your journey pleasant?”

“As pleasant as can be expected. I hope I have not disturbed your peace here...it was not my intent to bother you.”

Jasper sighed quietly to himself. “It is no bother.” _Save that I can smell you now and you smell a fair amount more delicious than I remember._ His mouth was beginning to water from the spice of it and he was afraid to look upward into the man’s face for he was certain he would become weaker to that call. How was this? For all the animosity he’d thought he held against Warren Oakley, it was difficult to remember it when all he could think of was how lovely it was to hold hope in his heart. Every incidental brush with fate that had drawn him closer to the thought that Warren Oakley could not possibly be as terrible as he seemed had worn away the callous made from their first moments together--slowly but surely, he felt as though he couldn’t keep himself apart from this man. It was too painful to live with the memory of him and be kept from the man himself.

“May I sit with you?”

“It is your house, Alpha, you may sit where you wish.” He could not believe how cold he sounded, for his heart could not have burned any hotter for him right then.

Warren came to the other side of the bench, at least two feet away though his scent was like fire and Jasper fancied he could feel the aura of his warmth. His aroma was tinged with a bitter, metallic undertone that betrayed a small amount of nervousness and the Omega was curious at least for that and it drew him to find Warren’s hands with his eyes, perched on his knees and still impossibly huge.

“A-Are...are _you_ feeling alright, Alpha?” he asked, uncertain.

The man peered at him, his mouth flat with no hint of the smile he’d shown earlier with Fergus. “I will have to admit that I am, I think, more overtired from the journey than I would’ve liked. I...I hope that this sentiment will not discomfort you…”

Jasper blinked, his eyes unfocused and yet still upon the Alpha’s knee and where his hand was set.

“My thoughts were often occupied by your welfare here. I hope that my letters were not unwelcome…”

His cheeks were flushed.

“I am not the most poetic of men and I had the feeling that you would not have appreciated anything more than...than what you have come to expect…”

“Was there reason for poetry?”

“It would have sounded better. It would have made for a better apology.”

“Was that what your letters were? Your gifts?”

Warren’s brows shifted just slightly inward until he was frowning, his eyes trapped upon the path before them as the sun dipped further down toward the horizon and the shadows grew long around them. “They were not meant as an apology...the gifts...I mean. They were merely things that I thought would occupy you. That you might appreciate. My apology is here. I was advised to come to my knees before you but I should not like to place my burden of gracelessness at your feet. Should I do so, surely you would feel obligated to forgive me and I cannot force your hand so.”

Jasper, disgruntled, felt himself steel for something intangible. “For what could you deign to apologize, Alpha?”

“For my bitterness. I was in love with your sister when we married and it was this that caused me to be careless with you. It is no excuse. I should have held you with every compassion that I had formed for your sister and I have shamed myself for my treatment of your emotions as secondary to my own.” He swallowed, letting out a shuddering breath as his scent shifted into a more potent anxiety. “You told me that I had hurt you. You will perhaps be satisfied to know that I have thought of your words to me that afternoon every day since and have rightfully deduced that it was that first coupling which condemned me further than any action I have committed beyond.”

Warren paused, breathing steadily through his mouth as his eyes flitted over the garden path this way and that as he gathered his thoughts. He was big but in that moment, he was hunched down and seemed very small indeed.

“I did hurt you,” he continued softly. “I did. And I am sorry. I am as sorry as a man can be for it and if there are a thousand other things I have done, I am sorry for them too and I will not mind to be told of them and address them all separately for that is the only real manner in which I may one day be absolved...though I cannot expect to be. Not for this. Not for any of them.”

Jasper felt as though his throat was closed and his mouth glued shut. He did not know how he might respond and the silence was cutting, drawing out and tightening like a wire about his neck. At least, he thought, Warren was not on his knees. If he sat here long enough, his silence would become his answer and Warren would leave and he could retreat to his room and think it all over there, without the presence of this huge Alpha near to him and without the silence drawing ever tighter until he’d had the life crushed out of him.

The Alpha drew up, his back straightening as he seemed to return to himself. “I will take my supper in my room so you might have your privacy. You have been here long enough that I am the intruder here. I apologize for having burdened your thoughts with all of this...I will not bother you again.” He stood, his stance and gait a bit wobbly as he retreated back into the house, leaving Jasper to stew in the oppressive silence alone.

He felt like he wanted to weep but there were no tears. Objectively, he knew that he should not feel sorry for the Alpha. He had been wronged enough by him that he should feel nothing but a hard will against him and yet it would not be conjured no matter how many times he tried to remind himself of all the cruel things Warren had done or said to him. He felt as though the time between then and now had worn at those hurts and every sweep of Warren’s kind hands over him when he was mad with heat had rubbed away the scabs of his wounds to reveal the fresh pink healed skin beneath. Every small forgiveness Warren allowed--for Jasper’s petulance, for his immaturity, for his own rampant bitterness--had picked away at all the anger and all that was left now was a raw, fresh scar with nothing more to be felt.

_He called me an obligation._

Perhaps, he told himself, it was because he _was_ an obligation. But should he wish to be more than just that, he had to try. A shocking revelation came to him then: He was willing to try. If only because his heart felt warmer and insisted upon looking back upon his night when he was not mad with heat, when he had come to his husband in tears looking for comfort and it had been freely given. His heart insisted upon thinking of the way Warren might have gotten up in the night, like he was wont to do, to write him; sitting at his writing desk in his room and carefully making out the simple letters that he would send in the morning with Jasper’s gifts, fighting with himself over words.

_“I love you Fergus.”_

He loved. He had sketched out an entire library and had set Mrs. Greene upon the task just so that he could live up to his word to Jasper that he should never lie to him. Surely, he loved...but did he love more than an obstinate parrot?

_He bought me a horse and a dog because he did not wish for anyone else to lie to me either…_

His hand was gripping at the breast of his waistcoat when he realized that his husband had surely spoken to Ben. Even through all of his light correspondence in the past few weeks, Warren and Ben had spoken and Ben had mentioned none of it in his letters. It struck him how deeply the Alpha had been affected by his leaving if he should have been inspired to pry so far as to find what he might like as gifts--to walk into the den of another man and conspire with him to some nebulous end.

He got up, unable to sit any longer for the restlessness that had come over him. He wandered to the dining room and could scarce eat for how distracted and overwhelmed he felt. Norman knew the source of his agitation but said nothing to him as he wandered the halls and took refuge in the almost-finished library which had come along well and looked very handsome indeed even without all the lovely things that would complete it. The shelves were glossy and filled with the books from the many crates in all different languages which Jasper enjoyed and the hearth was merrily crackling with a fire. Sparse furniture had been spread about and he took his usual place in a chair that had become his favorite near to the window where he could peer out at the garden. He fell asleep here in this chair and in the warmth of the room though it was just for a small time and he found that there was a blanket draped over him which smelled faintly of _Alpha_ and the hideous dawning came to him.

_I’ve let the garden of my affection become infiltrated by him and in thinking it was weeds, I have discounted the wildflowers._

He looked around the library to find it empty though someone had placed another small log upon the fire and he pulled the blanket further around his shoulders and pressed the wool to his nose.

_Dipping finger tips in ink to press prints upon the blotter. The sound of pleasured laughter from ticklish toes. The whipping of the cool ocean winds over the cliffs to the sea and the crash of foam over the rocks below. Earth and dirt and the braying of moor ponies while a huge yellow moon rises in the blackened night sky._

It was faint. The wool had not been intentionally scented but only handled. Jasper pulled it up over his head and curled into himself as tight as he could go, as though he were a babe tucked back inside the womb. He stayed like this for a time until he was tired and he took the blanket with him, wrapping it about himself and drawing up the excess around him so that he could walk without dragging it. He could smell Warren through the halls, his presence like that of a warm and pleasant ghost who guarded his home and laid blankets upon lone Omegas dozing in the library.

Jasper halted at the door to his own room, his eyes lingering on the carpet in the hall and then upon the next door over. He stood there for so long that his feet were cold, at war with himself. For all his mulish reluctance in the past to allow for any warm emotion toward Warren Oakley, it seemed to be for naught now. He wanted to give in to instinct now. What was there to lose, after all? He could only stand so much of this coldness around him--he wanted warmth.

Before he knew what he was doing, he was before the thick door to Warren’s rooms and he raised his hand, knocking three times with his knuckles and planting his feet so that he could not run.

“Come in,” came Warren’s easy reply. He surely thought Jasper was Norman or another maid come to stoke his fire.

Jasper paused for just a moment, breathing in deeply before he entered, slipping in and keeping himself by the door. His legs had turned to mash and he wasn’t at all sure how he was going to move again after this. The door clicked shut beside him and Warren looked over from his seat near the fire, his spectacles low on his nose and another book in his lap. The fragrance of _Alpha_ was thick and piney, sticking like pitch in Jasper’s nose.

“Jasper,” came that low tone, a small amount of shock apparent within it. “I wasn’t expecting you. Are you alright?”

He swallowed, finding his tongue and seeking to keep it untangled. “I am.”

The Alpha reached up and pulled the spectacles off his nose, his emotion a little more clear to Jasper now though still slight over his stoic face. “Is there something I can do for you? I do not mind…”

“I have…” Jasper started, uncertain how to convey his wishes. “I had hoped that...I may come to know you, Alpha. I have been…” _Lonely. Longing. Cold._

“Sit with me, Jasper?” He motioned toward the other chair near to the fire and set his book and his spectacles aside.

The strength it took to move was incredible and by the time he had managed to drag himself in shuffled steps to the seat, he felt supremely tired and he dared not look at his mate for the man was not wearing his cravat and the planes of his face and throat were dramatically lit and _god, he was handsome._ More than this, his voice when he spoke vibrated inside of Jasper’s body and thrummed through its own unique power in his heart and his lungs and his very bones.

“Is there something in particular you wished to know?”

He nodded softly. “Your mother was here...and your father for a short time.” Warren was silent and so Jasper continued. “I was fearful of him, though I cannot tell you why. It was…”

“Instinct,” Warren replied. “One you should do well to abide.”

“He...hurt you.”

Discomfort passed in Warren’s scent and he took in a long breath through his nose. “Yes.”

“And Eleanor. He hurt her.”

“Yes.”

Jasper looked into the fire, studiously avoiding looking at Warren. “I don’t feel frightened of you. I do not have the same instinct.”

“I cannot promise that I will not hurt you again.”

“You won’t.” He tucked the blanket around himself again, nestled within it as he pulled his feet up onto the chair with him. “I am not afraid of you.”

A time passed between them, the quiet becoming more comfortable in the warmth and the mingling of their scents. Warren spoke to him again, very softly and carefully. “You were studying to become a barrister...a very noble pursuit but one that will be barred to you now. I have hired a Mr. Harring as my solicitor in London and he has suggested to me that he would not be unwilling to allow you an apprenticeship with him. If you had any interest in filling your days, that is. I know it does not compare with the work of a barrister...but it is something, at least, and most of the work he would offer is out of the public...you would be a great asset to him with your education.”

His heart was thudding, a light in his soul that bubbled with something deep and intangible. “You...you would allow it?”

“I would encourage it. It is far better to use your mind than to waste it languishing here. Of course, he will spend plenty of time here as well, as my business is soon to become his only account. It is remarkably vast in its breadth and I think he will have his hands full if not for you. I should also like to expand my contact overseas and without your help in translating, I would have a much more difficult time. Would you consider helping me?” His eyes were shining and were burning over Jasper’s face even as he sought not to look into them.

“I…” _Yes! Yes! A thousand times yes! I want to do something! I want to be productive! I want to feel useful! For one in my life, I want everything to feel normal again!_ “I...yes. I think I would like that…”

The edge of Warren’s mouth held the ghost of something, as if he could have smiled. “Good. I was hoping you might find it suitable. I was given reason to think that you might not be content with merely keeping house...it did not seem like something you were very much interested in.”

“No...not so much.”

“It can hardly be expected,” the Alpha agreed, his eyes passing over Jasper warmly.

A small silence and then Jasper broke it with his blurted words. “Thank you...Alpha…”

“You’re welcome. Is...is there anything else you wished to discuss?”

“Mrs. Greene said that you were very good at sketching.”

“She did?”

“Yes...she said you sent your sketches for the library. I...I was curious to know if you had brought any of your sketches with you...if I might look at them. Did you make any when you were London?”

“I...I did bring some from London that I had made there. If you would like to see them, I could certainly show you. They are nothing special. Just...mostly flowers and horses and other things I think about.”

“Must you see your subject to draw them or do you do so from memory?”

“Some things are only available through memory...though I wish they were before me and I suppose that is why I sketch them.” He got up, moving to his trunk and lifting the heavy lid before he rustled around a bit inside and brought out a small journal, handing it to Jasper before he sat down again, less relaxed this time.

Jasper flipped it open, finding each small sketch to be lovingly formed and sometimes with a half-engaged mind. Some were simple outlines of things, plants and insects with little shadows scribbled beneath them. Others took up whole pages and were clearly made while in attendance with the subject. Horses leaning their heads over fences and bending the wood to reach the grass on the other side. Street lamps and well-dressed women gossiping near them, the light cast over them while they flipped out their fans and cast coy glances about. He was charmed by his depictions of people most of all and especially that of a small study of Eleanor which betrayed a delicate sadness in the slope of her mouth. He turned a page and jumped when Warren put out a hand.

“Oh...n-not that one…I’d forgotten...I...”

Jasper was unsure at first what he was seeing but it came to him clearly in a moment, his eyes taking in the soft lines and dark shading which betrayed it as a portrait of _himself_ \--a carefully drawn study of a sleeping and _very nude_ Omega within the soft, tangled nest of his heat. The intimate details of his body had been portrayed here in such softness he could not find those lines crude or strange but only the natural product of an artist who was compelled to commit the memory to paper. To make the memory last just a little while longer than a mind would allow.

“I’m sorry, Jasper, I’d forgotten I’d done that one...I should have...I should have ripped it out...I did not mean for you ever to see it. For anyone to see it...”

“No one has ever drawn me before…”

Warren’s eyes were closed, his face toward the fire, and his cheeks reddened with the embarrassment in his scent.

“No one has ever...cared to…”

“Forgive me.”

He held the journal closer. “What made you…”

The Alpha swallowed. “In your second heat, you came to me and you kissed me. You were...forgive me again, you were sensual in all the manner of an Omega. I...was enchanted. I did not know if you would ever allow me to see you so soft and so sweet again. I had to capture it or perhaps it would be lost forever to me.”

“I have never considered myself sensual...but to see it now…”

Warren turned away to hide his face. “I am sorry. I did not mean for you to find it.”

“Please do not throw it away...I have never been sketched before. I…” he could feel his cheeks burning.

“It is shameful for me to have done it without asking.”

“Will you...will you do it again? If I were to say yes? If I were to ask…?”

Warren looked around at him, his eyes intense and shining as Jasper finally looked into them, drawn to them as if by some invisible force. His brows were slightly knitted and his mouth was open and for a few moments, there was nothing between them but the crackle of the fire. The Alpha’s whisper was gentle and it swept Jasper away as the strongest of ocean currents, dragging him into the deep.

“ _I would do anything for you...if you will only ask._ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I meant to post this yesterday but I spent a very long time in the ER waiting room while my Gram got poked and prodded. The fortunate news is that we are both COVID-19 free. The unfortunate news is that we don't know what's wrong.
> 
> She's a sassy lady. Hopefully, it's a temporary thing.
> 
> Stay safe. Wash Your Hands.


	19. Chapter 19

Warren still wasn’t at all certain how he had ended up laying in his bed in his nightclothes and his dressing gown still on, the covers to his waist while his husband lay facing him on the opposite side of the bed. In the dim warm light, Jasper’s face was soft and his eyes were shining with moisture, his scent a sort of nervous sweetness that had the Alpha on edge. He wanted to ask a thousand questions but he did not wish to put the boy off. After all, they had only just retired here as Jasper had told him that he was feeling tired and would like to lay down for a while. He’d disappeared into his room for only a few minutes and when he had returned, he was in his nightclothes and he had settled very snugly into Warren’s bed.

The Omega looked at him, meeting his eyes and searching him as though he could strip him with his glances alone and see the truth beneath the man. His voice was husky with his emotion and his hand lay between them on the sheet, pale and cool. “You built a library for me.”

He whispered, his fantasy that Jasper’s hand would come to him. Would touch him. “I did.”

“Because you cannot lie to me.”

“One day I will take you to Paris.”

Jasper might have smiled but for now, it was a simple quirk up at the side of his lips. “I didn’t really remember asking…”

Warren felt his cheeks warm with his flush. “I remember everything...about that night…”

“I’m...sorry I went to him…”

The Alpha took in a deep breath and then let it out, emotion tightening his throat. “I’m sorry that...that I didn’t make it easier...to be with me. This might sound absolutely ridiculous but I was very intimidated by you.”

This time Jasper did smile and Warren’s heart squeezed. The Omega’s small chuff of laughter was incredulous. “ _Intimidated._ By me? I am so small compared to you. You are so tall and broad and strong...how in the world could any man be intimidated by one so slight as I?” He chuckled to himself, staring down at his own hand where it lay on the sheet. “I am very little...and weak…”

“It is my fault that you feel that way. You are not weak… Not at all. In fact, it is I who is the weak one. I crumbled under the pressure of my father to...to make something of my circumstances. I was stupid. I, along with plenty of other fools, thought that I was the only one who was in charge of my own fate… I had forgotten that my mother taught me better.”

“If I were strong...this never would have happened.”

“No, Jasper.” Warren reached out slowly and touched the soft underside of the Omega’s chin, coaxing him to look upward without force. “ _If I had not forced you,_ none of this would have happened. This is all my fault. Every single moment of unhappiness is my fault. That you felt at all negative about your presentation, I could have helped...but I didn’t. If you will let me...I will try now...”

Jasper’s eyes were glimmering with moisture, his scent potent and heady and filled with something Warren had never experienced before. Warmth. Sunshine through rain clouds. _Crashing thunder through light gray skies and the sound of rain slapping over stone pathways half overgrown. The plush softness of moss upon old crumbling fences winding through green and purple fields. Breathless running, desperate hiding, dirty fingers sinking into damp cool soil. The golden lines of sun on the horizon, bars shimmering against the darkness beyond. A last hope. Fading? Returning?_

Warren breathed him, closing his eyes to sense it all. “Jasper...will you let me try?”

“Does that mean that...you will kiss me?”

He blinked his eyes open, startled. “Is...is that something you wish?”

The Omega swallowed, his scent suddenly bashful. “Well...I seem to recall that it was not at all unpleasant. Perhaps not now. Perhaps...tomorrow. Sometime. When I am not so overwrought.”

He nodded, his heart thudding in his chest, his pulse noticeable at his throat. “Yes...very good. Then, if you should rethink the matter, it will not have already happened. I am already perhaps a great amount of your regrets...I should not like to be another. Can I get you anything? Water? Sherry?”

“No, thank you Alpha...but I should like to sleep here. My own bed will be so cold and I have already warmed here.”

“Of course. I would not make you leave. I...do not want you to.”

Jasper pulled the sheet and counterpane over his shoulders and when he noticed that the Alpha was looking at his hand again, he reached out and placed it over Warren’s, turning it until he was grasping the Alpha’s hand properly, letting his pale fingers curl sweetly to hold him.

He stayed awake for some time after his mate had fallen asleep, watching him breathe as his face relaxed and every so often his lip twitched as he dreamed. He was so unguarded when he was dozing and the blankets slipped a little with his dressing gown and his nightshirt and Warren could see just the edge of his bondmark on the slope of his shoulder. He wanted to taste that soft skin again. He wanted to press his face against his mate’s throat now knowing that there was meaning in his scent and meaning deeper still when it combined with his own.

Eventually, he fell asleep and when he woke he opened his eyes upon that perfect form again though this time he was faced away and his hair was a mess and his bondmark was fully revealed and Warren felt his mouth ease into a gentle smile as he gazed upon his husband in the thin morning light. There was a delicate thread of something in Jasper’s scent. Something new. Something fine and subtle like the glint of silk in the daylight. His smile faded as he bolstered his nerves. Soon the boy would wake and he would have to think of where to go from here and what to do. He could not distract himself with business when he had already burdened his solicitor with most of it.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the door opening and he closed his eyes, pretending to sleep again when he heard Norman’s soft footfalls enter and then pause, finding them together in the wide bed. He heard him move again in a moment, rustling about to get their clothes ready for them and the fire built up to ward against the coolness of the morning. When he was all finished, and he had gone, Warren opened his eyes again just before he found Jasper to do so as well, now facing him.

The Omega’s cheeks flushed attractively. “Were you...pretending as well? I do sometimes so that Norman will not make me get up before I am ready.”

“Does he often?”

“If he can. With you about, he wouldn’t dare. He cannot bully you like he bullies me.”

“He cares about you very much.”

Jasper nodded. “Yes. I think he does. It is good that you did not allow me to dismiss him when I did...I was not myself that day.”

Warren raised his brows. “You did what?”

“I...oh...hmm. I suppose then that he did not even tell you. He would not, would he? I...when I was running off...to Rogueford...I told him that he was dismissed. He was right to ignore me. He’s been right about a great many things in my life.” An odd trace of melancholy rose into the boy’s scent and Warren began to feel his anxiety rise.

“I don’t blame you...by the way,” he blurted, hoping to distract him. “For running. He is a very charming man. Very um…” His brows knitted and he searched for a word for the decadence that was Lord Rogueford. “He’s very...graceful.”

“You could hardly think so after your meeting him, could you?” Jasper stared at him. “He was hardly elegant.” A wave of shame floated over them. “I was...hardly…”

Warren snuffed out his nose. “You were very angry. And rightfully so. I...I’m sorry that everything has been so complicated. I can’t help but feel that you should have married a man of your own status...like Rogueford. Boys like you...well...you don’t often marry men like me. You’re so refined and well-bred and I am so...common.”

Jasper’s mouth tightened on one side. “I do not think there is much about you that is very common, Alpha. And as for who I should have married...I should not like to have married a man like Ben. How will anyone know the true Lord Rogueford? He does not even take his lovers to his own bed...I daresay not a soul has ever known who he really is.”

“He seemed very kind...genuine…”

Jasper narrowed his eyes at him. “Did you...speak to him? Is that why you sent a dog? And a pony?”

His face filled with heat and he must have appeared very guilty when he looked again at Jasper because the boy snorted a little laugh and moved to lay his cheek in his hand.

“Oh my god...that is embarrassing. What did he tell you?”

“N-Nothing of import. Just...those things. I...I didn’t have very many ideas for gifts and you spent far more time with him so I thought…”

“So you went and asked the man I…” He shook his head slightly as though it were beyond comprehension before he sighed again and frowned. “Alpha?”

“Was that terrible of me? Have I done the wrong thing again?”

“No. I am just...so embarrassed. That you both talked...you could have talked about...all sorts of things about me.”

Warren blinked, his flush even deeper. “Oh...well, he did tell me a few things but he is surprisingly sheepish about certain aspects. I am admittedly not a very good student for certain subjects.” He drew in a heavy breath. “Anyhow...perhaps we get up and you can show me how you trot on that handsome hackney.”

“Oh. Alright.”

It was at this point that Warren thought it became far easier than it had ever been to be married to Jasper Wrightmore. The boy showed him how the pony trotted very nicely and shared with him soft stories of little things that had happened to him here and in his past. He recounted though the days that he had once had a stutter which he of course had to overcome at Eton or he should be the laughingstock of the class. For very day that they spent together, Warren found himself learning far more about Jasper than he ever thought he would and not only that, he found himself sharing far more about himself.

They spent many mornings together though sometimes they did not sleep in the same bed, Jasper would wander in sometime in the early mornings and snooze beside him so they might wake together in the sunlight, his scent infused into Warren’s pillows and sheets, sweetly surrounding him. He found that he was more open in the mornings. More prone to giving himself away. He thought it must have been Jasper’s rosy cheeks. The tone of his voice. The threads of _something_ in his scent and the knowing glances Mrs. Greene would give him when they walked down to breakfast together.

It was weeks like this, spent in harmless coexistence, and they hardly ever touched though still Warren felt the urge to press his nose against Jasper’s soft throat. One morning, after he’d spent the night alone, he was awoken to a gentle, giving pressure upon his lips which was somewhat familiar--a motion his husband had done during his second heat a month prior. He did not open his eyes for fear that it might spook the Omega and instead merely gave a very tame return to it, letting the boy back away just a bit before he chanced to look upward.

He was gloriously handsome in the pale morning light and he was propped up like a languid tiger, a hunger in his eyes that was something of a novelty if Warren could admit. He couldn’t smell heat but he could scent that Jasper was _aroused_.

Warren sucked in a heavy breath. “G-Good morning.”

His mate was breathing through his nose, labored and uncertain, his eyes darting this way and that as if he could not make up his mind about something. Perhaps it was about whether or not to kiss him again. Warren hoped it was, surely, for he would like another and he hoped that he might not give the impression that he did not.

“Is something wrong, mate? I...I hope you do not think that I would dislike that sort of awakening. To the contrary,” he blathered, hoping that he was not speaking too much and that if he was, Jasper would simply stop him; preferably by kissing him again. “I’m very much in favor of it…”

His words trailed off when Jasper slipped quickly from the bed and he grabbed at the empty water basin upon the sideboard, his eyes wide and watery before he heaved twice and then vomited violently into it.

Warren was up, his mind immediately awake as he pulled at the bell cord and slid from his own warm spot, pulling on his housecoat and coming to Jasper’s side. Instinct guided him and he very slowly encouraged the trembling boy with the basin clutched to his stomach back toward the bed. He settled him upon it as another wave hit him and he choked and sputtered, vomiting a bit more just before Norman made his way into the room.

“Norman,” Warren began, his voice stern. “A ginger tea.”

The soft sound of Mrs. Greene found him from the door. “Oh, I’ll make it. Must be careful with ginger, dears, too much isn’t good.”

He frowned. “Well, his stomach is upset. Enough to ease him, at least. I remember a very strong ginger tea in my youth--”

“Yes, Alpha,” she conceded for a moment, “but you were not carrying a _pup_.”

Norman gave a little start as he turned around toward Mrs. Greene, his jaw dropping open and mirroring Warren’s befuddled expression.

The housekeeper moved to the cupboard, pulling out some fresh towels before she poured just a little of the water in the pitcher onto it, dabbing at Jasper’s forehead and cheeks. “Oh dear, you’re in a sorry state, aren’t you? No worries, this is temporary. Very normal. You’ve got all of us here with you and we won’t let anything happen.” She gently wiped at Jasper’s tears before she handed off the towel to Warren. “You might rub his back, Alpha. Might not help but it’ll feel better.” Then she was gone and Norman was left with him, shock still in his eyes.

The Beta cleared his throat. “I suppose then, sir, that you might simply stay in your bedclothes unless Master Jasper recovers?”

“That will be fine, thank you,” he tried, his voice not quite so authoritative after this jarring news that left him sitting next to his mate in bed and listening to the poor boy losing everything in his stomach and then some. With a careful touch, he rubbed over the Omega’s back, finding it easy to place his hand upon him despite every other moment seeming like it might ruin him to do so.

The silence--other than Jasper’s intermittent retching--was unbearable.

“You know...I think I thought that this kind of news would be met with a sort of elation,” he tried. “This is beyond my purview, as you can imagine.”

Jasper gagged and heaved again but it seemed as though nothing was left in him and so all he could manage were sticky strings from his lips. Warren reached for the moistened towel Mrs. Greene had left and he leaned over, gently dabbing at Jasper’s cheeks under his eyes before he wiped over his mouth and then folded it to set it aside. Rubbing his back did seem to help and the boy took in some shuddering breaths while he shook and trembled, his grip on the basin tight. When he spoke, it was with a rasping tone as his throat was irritated.

“I’m sorry…”

“You’ve no reason to be sorry.”

His face changed, pinching as he began to quietly weep. “I’m sorry I’m not...I’m not happy.”

“Good lord, Jasper. Have I placed that burden upon you? No, no, please. When I claimed that I thought this would be met with elation it was in _jest_. I assure you, mate, I think my feelings are just as entangled. I am at once both joyful and, dare I admit, _terrified._ ”

“Of what do you have to be terrified, Alpha? You are not the one who must carry this pup. I’ve no idea what I’m doing...what is happening to me…”

Warren wanted to gather the boy in his arms and hold him so close and so tight. He wanted to be able to simply impart his emotions into him so that he might understand. All he had were his words and for Warren, words were so difficult. He sighed. “I am terrified of how you feel about me and carrying my child. I’m terrified for your safety and for how you might think of yourself now. You are no less a man for this.”

He wept still, his tears dripping from the tip of his little nose into the basin. “How will you let me work for Mr. Harring now? I am useless how I am…”

“Mrs. Greene said that this was temporary. Surely you can work and be useful. I hear tell all the time that some of the ladies in the factories work right up until they’re fit to burst.”

Jasper eyed him incredulously through the wet of his tears.

“If you wish to work with Mr. Harring, you are more than capable. Though if it becomes overly difficult, I would ask that you do not stress yourself. I would like my mate to be comfortable and my pup to be safe.” He felt a strong urge to touch at Jasper’s belly and then quelled it, keeping his hands to himself. “And, of course, I do hope that this is temporary for more selfish reasons.”

“What are those?”

The Alpha’s face warmed and he focused his gaze on the bedding. “Your kisses.”

His mate didn’t appear as if he knew what to think about that little bit of information, his scent a combination of emotions that were difficult to parse. Amusement, embarrassment, and an odd tinge of something Warren didn’t recognize all swirled together. “I have just finished emptying my gut into this basin and you still think yourself attracted to my kisses?”

He couldn’t help but feel the side of his mouth turning up a bit and the sight of it seemed to jar the Omega, his eyes fixed upon the small curve. “Should someone ask, I might tell them that I have never found you more handsome than just now.”

“I thought you didn’t lie.”

The other side of his mouth turned up as he chuckled low. “I don’t.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We are drawing in. After this, I think we're probably going back to weekly updates though I can't guarantee a solid schedule. :0


	20. Chapter 20

Jasper couldn’t stop thinking about the way Warren looked when he smiled. Butterflies would pop up and flutter in his stomach every time he recalled how his mouth had tipped up at either side and he’d looked that way _at him._ What had Jasper done that would make Warren look at him like that? He couldn’t think of anything specifically, except, of course… He reached down to below his belly button, over his womb.

_He called me handsome. Even in such a state, he called me handsome because I am going to bear his pup. He’s overwhelmed by the prospect, surely. It’s addled his brain._

He wasn’t sure how much faith he could put into that. The shadow of the idea that Warren might just think him handsome overall was still hanging over him and he didn’t want to look at it or acknowledge it. Still, it was there and it ate at him. The only time he didn’t have to think about it was the time he spent with Mr. Harring who had come out to the country estate in order to put together files regarding not only Warren’s business pursuits in London but also those he had lined up for the estate specifically for Jasper’s concern.

Mr. Harring was pleased with the manner in which Jasper worked and, if he had any problems with working with an Omega as his assistant, he certainly did not mention them and even went so far as to give him small compliments throughout the day on everything from his penmanship to his organization. Mr. Harring was not only content to compliment him in private, he was moved enough to suggest to Warren that Jasper was a very distinguished young man, which nearly put the poor Omega into a puddle of embarrassment--especially when Warren gave him a soft little smile. That one almost sent his heart bursting out of his chest and he sought to be alone with Mr. Harring after that, hoping that his mate would not again wander by.

“You see, I had to move all my other accounts to my partners when I acquired Mr. Oakley’s robust portfolio and you can tell that I’ve got my hands full with everything here and I could use a boy like you with your skills. You’ve got a good head for details, I can see that, and you’ll be invaluable--especially with how much you can do just from here through correspondence.” He gave Jasper a big grin. “I heard the good news, of course, and I’m certain that Mr. Oakley would not want you traveling all across the country looking after his interests so leave that to me. But it would be a darn good help to have your mind looking after that which I can’t always find the time.”

“I would love to help. I have felt so useless after becoming...what I am.”

“An Omega? Oh dear boy. You are far from useless. The Omega is perfection upon the Earth and there is no possible manner in which you could be useless. You were designed divinely--to bring life. My own husband is an Omega.”

“Oh?”

“Quite right, and he’s a very astute little thing though he hasn’t got the patience for any of this...it’s a rare Omega who’s got the patience for this nonsense. No, no, he likes poetry. We’ve got eight children between us and he’s the perfect Oma.” Mr. Harring practically glowed when speaking of his husband, peering down at the ring on his finger with great import. “I’ve been the most lucky of men, Mr. Oakley, and you’re about to know my fortune for your own! I will not bog you down with too much work but I will certainly keep your mind busy. I know how a boy like you will want to stay occupied.”

“Y-you do?”

“Of course I do,” he provided easily, packing up his papers and correspondences into his case. “I do have eight children...I’m well aware of an Omega’s impatience.”

Jasper fiddled with the pen in its holder. “You said he was the perfect Oma. What...what makes a man a perfect Oma? I fear I haven’t the instinct.”

Harring frowned at him, his smile unbelieving. “Dear boy, you are going to surprise yourself. I think it is hard for a man to think that when he holds his child in his arms that he will be overcome by any kind of emotion. We often think ourselves above such feeling as it would get in the way of our _masculine_ pursuits. But I cannot express more resolutely that when you hold that little sprout of a human in your arms for the first time, you will be absolutely smitten by your love for them. You will not be able to help being what you were born to be. Some folks I could imagine that they would not have the instinct, surely, but I do not see that in you, Mr. Oakley and I certainly do not see it in your mate.” He beamed, his smile toothy and genuine. “You and your mate are going to be such grand and wonderful parents.”

Jasper’s cheeks were burning hot as his mind conjured again the memory of Warren’s smile upon him and he could feel his body reacting to the memory. It had become very apparent to him very quickly that his small breasts were swollen and they seemed to swell now as he thought of his mate, his scent sweetening as he unwittingly found himself very aroused.

Harring turned about, collecting a few more things as he tried to hide his smile. “I will be in contact, Mr. Oakley. Look for my notes and if anything changes here at the estate, do let me know so that I might keep myself as organized as you are.”

“O-Of course…” He winced when he felt a little wetness at his backside, his muscles squeezing as if he might hold it in.

“And uhm...I think the last I saw, your husband was in the blue parlor downstairs. Have a very good day, sir.”

Jasper nodded and let out a tiny little relieved sigh when the man had hustled off. Though the Beta’s intentions were certainly good for telling the Omega where his husband was located, Jasper couldn’t imagine trying to go there now. He was feeling equal parts frustrated and aroused, his small breasts aching terribly and the fabric of his shirt rubbing his nipples feeling absolutely _horrendous_. It was fine when he wasn’t thinking about it but now that he was overcome by this unnatural preoccupation with his own husband, he was very much unnerved by it.

He got up, moving carefully as not to jostle himself over much and retreated to his room where he found Norman organizing his clothes and setting aside new ones--ones he was certain were meant for when he was too big for the ones he had now.

“Good afternoon, sir. Should you like to retire for a nap? Is Mr. Harring done with you for now?”

“He is...Norman…”

“Yes?”

He turned around, his brow tight as his valet cast over him a quizzical eye. “How does one know that they are not being swayed by the call of their instinct when they develop certain emotions? How am I supposed to understand myself to be genuine when there is all this terrible _instinct_ pulling me in in all directions?”

“Well, I think the first step is to tell me what you think you are feeling and then tell me why you ought not feel that way.”

“I think I’m falling in love with him,” he blurted, expecting the Beta valet to be shocked. When he found that Norman was not at all fazed, he tried again. “Norman...that can’t be.”

“Why not?”

“He’s awful.”

“Is he? From where I stand, I see two young gentlemen who made a very big mess of their marriage and who have, most recently, begun the daunting task of cleaning it up.” He fluffed one of Jasper’s pillows and set it down onto the bed again in the very place he’d picked it up from, making certain not to disrupt the delicate nest Jasper had crafted that morning. “The both of you did as much as you could to antagonize the other and now that you’re both acting civilized, you think it is merely your instinct drawing you to him? Absolutely not. Look at him. He’s bought you gifts, he built a library for you, he apologized to you and let that not go discounted. An Alpha’s pride is a very important aspect of their being and he put that aside for you. Will you be willing to put yours aside for him?”

“What are you telling me to do?”

“You’re dripping into your trousers and you have to ask?”

Jasper blinked, startled a bit though he knew he shouldn’t have been. Norman had always been like this. “You do not have to be crude.”

He sighed. “He’s in the parlor downstairs.”

“Norman, I’m not sure that--” One more glance from his valet made it known that this was a conversation he no longer wished to hold and so Jasper sighed, turning about and heading down the stairs as there was really no other place for him to go. He found Fergus standing about and drinking water out of a teacup as he sat on the settee across from Warren who tipped his newspaper down when Jasper appeared in the doorway.

“Good afternoon, Jasper. Is something the matter, you look a little perturbed.” He leaned over and picked up his cup of tea, sipping it a bit before he set it down and looked for his answer.

“I daresay I _am_ a little perturbed.” He shut the door behind him, gathering more of Warren’s interest in the act. The Alpha folded his paper and set it down upon the low table before him while Jasper walked slowly toward him and then, with a very uncertain few steps, positioned himself within the V of Warren’s knees.

“Jasper?”

“I threw up this morning five times.”

Warren leaned forward, his emotions miniscule in his features but apparent now to the Omega who had memorized the way his face ticked through them in turns. He was supremely interested in wherever this was going.

“My body feels so foreign to me. Before, when it was just that I was an Omega, I only had to contend with feeling out of control for a week at time and it was sharp and fleeting. Now...it is dull but constant. Please forgive me. I feel both angered by you and…”

Warren leaned even more, his mouth opening. “...and?”

He lifted up his hands, gently touching his Alpha’s jaw, feeling the scratch of his faint stubble on the pads of his thumbs. “...enthralled.”

The low tone of his voice vibrated through Jasper’s form and he could feel just a small bit more slick escape from his rump, his arousal evident in the air around them. “What do you want me to do, Jasper?”

He blinked, staring down at Warren’s lips in the hazy afternoon sun. “I...I promised you a kiss...that night…”

“If you are not feeling yourself, you should not--”

He had leaned down, cutting the Alpha off with the tender but persistent press of his lips, his hands holding Warren’s head so that he might properly kiss him. When he pulled back, he stared down into the Alpha’s eyes, shining with the light from the window. “I feel as though I must have been in some kind of cocoon. And I must be crawling out of it now. I have been myself...different forms of myself. This _is_ me. I have always been stubborn and pig-headed, I have always been prone to bitterness. I have always held grudges a little too long. But I cannot deny that I hold this attraction to you...that there are passions inside me that burn like fire…”

Warren swallowed audibly. “What do you ask of me, mate?”

He leaned down again, claiming his husband’s mouth with a kiss while his hands raked through the Alpha’s hair and he pushed forward, sliding his leg over Warren’s thigh and then the other so that he was straddling the man’s lap and pressing him against the back of the davenport. He surged with his tongue, exploring and sweeping and teasing until he could hear the Alpha groaning in low, masculine tones from the back of his throat. Warren’s hands came to his thighs and his hips and his waist, feeling him and measuring him until he was very slowly removing Jasper’s waistcoat, tugging at his cravat until it was beside them. Blindly, the Alpha tugged at the Omega’s shirt until it was free of its tuck and when it was open, he very softly pressed his hands against Jasper’s ribs and moved upwards.

“Wait!” the boy cried into Warren’s mouth, flinching away from the touch of his fingers.

“Wait?” Warren breathed with his confusion, his eyes drinking in the sight of Jasper’s slightly swollen breasts, his pink nipples puffy and larger than they had been before.

He was nearly out of breath, gasping in the scent of Alpha around him while he tried to contend with the erotic sight of his own chest exposed before a handsome man like Warren Oakley. “They...they are very irritated...I cannot stand to have them touched.”

A soft clattering sound from behind him reminded him that Fergus was still in the room and he gasped, turning his head to see the bird very much engrossed in picking up his now-empty teacup and clinking it against its saucer.

“Fergus,” Warren breathed, barely contained. “Might you give me the room?”

“I shut the door…”

“It doesn’t latch. He’ll get it.”

The parrot hopped off the settee, clicking his talons over the wooden floor while he muttered. _“Men at some time are masters of their fates…chk chk chk Brutus!”_ He fiddled with his beak at the edge of the door until he’d pulled it ajar and slipped out, a witch’s cackle marking his retreat somewhere in the bowels of the house.

Jasper pulled his lip between his teeth when he turned back to the Alpha holding him, his cock still straining in his trousers and his backside still uncomfortably wet. “Th-there is no other part of me that is similarly affected…”

“At current, there is no other part of you that looks as uniquely delicious,” Warren confessed, his eyes still latched upon the swell of Jasper’s new assets. “To see them and not be allowed to taste them--this must be how Adam felt in Eden when he peered at the fruit of knowledge. It is all I can do to resist, for my temptation is to kiss you there...to see if they are as sweet as I imagine.”

Jasper pressed a finger against Warren’s lips to stay his words but when the Alpha divested him entirely of his shirt, he moaned and prompted the man to move. All of a sudden, Warren had swept his arm across the low table before him, sending all upon it crashing over the floor before he reverently laid the Omega down over it and feverishly worked at the fastening of Jasper’s trousers, jerking them down and off to leave him nude and pale in the warm squares of light which cascaded down over them.

The Alpha peered down at his domain in the manner of a hawk, his prideful eyes sparking with a male pleasure at seeing his mate so bare and so ready. Jasper cried out sharply when Warren leaned down and, without hesitation, put him in his mouth. What he lacked in experience, he made up for in earnesty, covering his teeth with his lips and working at the Omega with his tongue. The sounds of his erotic reverence were almost too much and Jasper sought to drown them out with his pleasured sighs and whimpers, his small hands reaching for Warren’s head and petting into his hair.

“ _Uhhhhuuuunnnn...aaaahhhhuuuhhh...ah...ah...Alphaaaahhnnn!_ ”

He could feel the pressure building within him as Warren licked at him and sucked him, taking the time to touch over his hips and his ribs, fingers brushing and feeling and possessing in a way that only _Alpha_ could. His legs moved, his thighs twitching with the pleasure radiating out from between them and soon Warren had to press against them, holding them apart as Jasper’s breaths came in salient pants, his fingers gripping the edges of the table so hard he wasn’t sure if he could feel them anymore.

What sent him over the edge was more than just his mate’s enviable patience in taking him into his mouth, it was the sudden press of Warren’s finger against him--the very easy breach of him. The familiar sensation of being _taken_ and _worshiped_ for the sake of his pleasure alone. The Alpha barely had to curl his big finger upward before Jasper’s back was arching and he was spurting into his mouth with a thrilling shriek. His abdomen was tensing, his body twitching and wracked with his climax which seemed to last for far longer than was normal--wetness gushing from around his husband’s finger, dripping over the edge of the low table and onto the persian rug below.

“ _Mmm…_ ” Warren mused, removing his finger and lifting Jasper’s little sack while the Omega breathed through the aftermath of his orgasm, staring up at the flowers and medallions of the plaster ceiling. Another little soft hum escaped the Alpha before Jasper was gasping and mewling again, the man’s lips and tongue exploring the space between his sack and his entrance, trailing down sweetly until he had to lift the boy’s thighs to curve him up and place his mouth directly upon the center of his _Omegahood._

“ _Warren...Warren…!_ ”

It was as though the Alpha were deaf to him, lapping at the warm fluid that slowly leaked from him, dipping his tongue in and out, tickling over his sensitive rim and giving him kiss after kiss that drove him into a very warm and soft satisfaction. The urgency was over and he relaxed, letting the subtle pleasures of the act wash over his mind. He could feel a pleasant tingle spreading out from where his mate touched him and though his belly still held the tremors of pleasure, his breath slowed and he very softly keened, drawing the Alpha up to look at him with a mildly smug expression.

Warren’s words came in a whisper. “ _Are you alright, Jasper?_ ”

“Hah…” he breathed, his mouth curving into a wide grin. “I...yes…”

“Do you find that you are still a little perturbed?”

“My thoughts have been completely erased. I do not know if I could even comprehend where I lay.” He stared upwards toward the molding in the plaster again, the trailing leaves of the corner fan capturing his gaze. “I cannot fathom that I am not in heat now. That I came to you like this and that I am bared to you and that you sit between my legs…” His face was so hot, his flush spreading to his chest where his tiny breasts ached.

“Is it so unbelievable? You came to Rogueford like this, did you not?”

“It was...not the same.”

“Hmm. Perhaps one day you will tell me in what ways it is different with me. For now, I suspect I should gather you up and dress you for the sake of any of the servants who might be scandalized by my treatment of you...and the furniture.” He got up and reached down, scooping Jasper up in his arms and careful not to brush his chest when he sat him on the davenport and helped him back into his underthings.

“Alpha…”

“Hmm?” he asked distractedly, trying to make sense of Jasper’s trousers which had gotten tangled up in his removal of them.

“What about you?”

“What do you mean?”

He let his eyes glance toward the junction of Warren’s legs and then he raised them again in question. Surely _that_ should have been enough to get the man hard. Surely there was something sparking between them enough for Warren to find him arousing in intimacy.

The Alpha sighed through his nose, taking a moment to think before he touched Jasper’s naked thigh. “I...I can’t become aroused. I know not what it is exactly. Even now, I can feel _something_ but it is not enough...just a swelling really. I’m embarrassed...it makes little sense to me.”

Overcome, suddenly, by this confession, Jasper took Warren about the neck and hugged him, ignoring the ache of the press against his chest as he embraced his mate.

“Jasper…”

“I’m sorry…”

Warren sniffed out a laugh. “You’ve nothing to apologize for. It is no one’s fault and it does not bother me. You’ve not come to me in the hopes of joining in that manner so I’ve no reason to miss it.” Still, the Alpha held him tenderly, his big hands on Jasper’s back warm and giving. His nose dipped against Jasper’s throat and he could feel the man taking sips of him, his lips pressing against the sensitive flesh there until he had swept them down over the bondmark he’d placed. His mouth opened against him, wetly kissing him, tracing the scar with his mouth and his teeth until Jasper felt himself getting riled again, his little cock stiffening between his pale thighs.

“Mmm...Alpha…”

His voice was so low and so heavy and so close that Jasper shuddered with anticipation at the sound. “I ought to take you upstairs to your nest. I ought to lay you down within it and tease you again. What do you think, Jasper? Shall I? Do you think that acceptable?”

“ _Hunh...please, Alpha. Would that I could be teased all evening…_ ”

“Hmm,” Warren replied, smiling against his neck before he placed another amorous kiss there. “I think I could manage. I hardly have any business going on today. Mrs. Greene will simply have to deliver our supper. Perhaps I will feed it to you as though you are my master and I your humble slave…”

Jasper’s face was so hot that he could not look Warren in the eyes. “ _Oh, you sound so wicked...it is unlike you…_ ”

The Alpha laughed, the tone rumbling and seductive. “Oh, Jasper...you hardly know me at all.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "He's awful."
> 
> Objectively: yes.
> 
> But yeah, sure ok. We all _really_ believe you feel this way, J Baby. [/sarcasm]


	21. Chapter 21

It almost seemed as though Jasper were having an affair with his own husband. On the whole, Warren had not changed. He was still severe, his manner serious, and his tone aloof. During the day, they spent most of their time apart, Warren working on his business and Jasper working on his correspondences with Mr. Harring and the business associates with whom Warren worked. He had his incidental brushes with the Alpha during the day if they had to converse for the purposes of business but it was usually curt and professional and without familiarity. It was perhaps for the best, he often thought, as he was not distracted overly by anything like casual flirtations or amorous glances. Though, he mused, he would not have minded them.

It was usually the evening when his stomach would begin to tie in knots and he could feel the stirring of anticipation in his gut. It seemed so terribly _deviant_ when he came to his mate. There was always something in his scent or in his eyes that gave him away and Waren always noticed it right away, capitalizing on the blatant need Jasper exhibited.

They’d done very naughty things in the Alpha’s study, Jasper’s trousers on the floor and his knees on either side of Warren’s lap. Once, he’d nearly spilled the ink bottle all over his letters when Warren had lifted him up and placed him right on top of all his important papers, dripping slick on the blotter and laying back while his chest heaved with lust. It was as though this Alpha was a different man. He did not seem to have anything filling up his mind and he was certainly not preoccupied or worried when he was kissing or drawing out soft touches over the Omega’s body. He was fully and wholly focused, his pleasure in nothing but the act of pleasing--as was surely evidenced by the way he sought to nibble at the soft flesh of Jasper’s thigh and the velvet of his manhood.

Jasper found that it was not only the thrill of finding his husband and the chance of being caught by the staff that was so compelling but the simple fact that he was sure to be accepted. He tested this theory, of course, somewhat uncertain as to whether or not he could entice his husband into some facsimile of love-making in the morning rather than the evening. His body was certainly ready for it--as he nearly always was these days--and he sought the Alpha out only an hour after breakfast, finding him in his study. When the man had looked upward and questioned about about Jasper’s correspondences that morning, he was quick to note the tones of arousal in Jasper’s scent and respond accordingly. Upon some occasions, he was a man who enjoyed a bit of coffee in the mornings, a habit he had picked up on in his visits to North America, and Jasper certainly did not mind the certain earthy richness it placed within his kisses. In fact, Jasper found that he never minded kisses. He loved them. No matter when or how, he _loved_ being kissed by Warren Oakley.

Finding his advances to be very welcome, he discovered a certain power associated with his sexuality--the unique ability to cause a transformation within his mate. One Warren Oakley was a stern man not prone to humor and the other was the man with which Jasper thought he was having an affair. A secret Alpha hidden from the first. The sort who gave out muted smiles which, even in their subdued manner, were enough to lift up Jasper’s whole heart and squeeze it in a divine grip. He felt as though he were some intrepid explorer each time he seduced his husband, seeking a delicate and priceless treasure with every expedition.

_Kisses. Smiles. Alpha pride and satisfaction. Like gold and jewels to the Omega looking for love and affirmation._

He would come to Warren’s bed in the night time and sometimes they would kiss and touch and explore with their bodies and other times they would lay together and Warren would ask him about his day or his thoughts or his opinions on nothing of great import. Jasper found himself talking a lot about himself when he was in Warren’s bed and thought that perhaps he was boring the Alpha, but Warren only listened and asked more questions, seemingly very interested in the dull things Jasper used to do when he was young or when he was in school.

So it went on like this and he could not escape the persistent thought that niggled in the back of his mind as his belly gained a very soft round shape--just a hint of what was to come.

_I love him._

It was more than simple instinct. It had to be. Instinct could be sated. Instinct could be quelled. The will to mate could be eased by the act itself but the deep and abiding golden glow in his heart could not be in any way stifled.

It was... _unexpected._

Jasper found that most of what happened to him since he’d presented was unexpected and sometimes in the best of ways. Upon retiring into Warren’s bed one evening, he lay in the soft warmth of his husband’s arms and was startled by the Alpha’s voice, rumbling in his chest.

“I must go to London on the morrow. I wanted to extend the invitation to you so that you might visit with Mr. Harring during the day--to perhaps get a stronger idea of the work.” He paused, taking a breath before he drew Jasper’s eyes upward with a soft finger on his chin. “And I must admit that I extend it for selfish reasons as well.”

Jasper couldn’t help himself and he smiled. “I...did not want to presume.”

“I have grown accustomed to your kisses.”

He reached up, his fingers warm and he touched against Warren’s lips. “When I presented...I hadn’t known that they would place us together. It was rather slapdash wasn’t it?”

“It was cruel of them,” Warren agreed softly. “But with you now...and the way you touch me and look at me: I cannot argue it.” He rolled his eyes. “I would certainly have done many things differently...but I would marry you all over again if I could.”

He flushed, pulling his eyes away and pushing his face against Warren’s bare chest, rubbing his nose in the springy hair there and pulling in his scent, musky and earthy and attractive even in its strength. He felt his mate’s arms come around him and hold him and he lost himself in the sensation of being held and protected and _possessed_ by his Alpha.

_My Alpha._

The first time Warren had proclaimed to be that very thing, Jasper had been beneath him, held down and struggling. He had thought that there was nothing more degrading than to be beneath this powerful engine of masculine energy. But there was no resentment left in him. It had dissolved over these months like sugar lumps in tea--worn away by _heat_ and _time_ and the gentle soak of a heartfelt apology. He rooted around in his heart, looking for the last remnants of anger and he could not find them. They had all gone. Lost. And he was grateful.

The morning found him traveling with Warren in the coach with him, the Alpha engaging him with some of the news in the paper and for the first time since he’d presented, Jasper found a man interested in what he had to say about the affairs of the world. Warren, instead of being dismissive of his thoughts, continued to ask him questions, agreeing with many of his points and offering a good many suggestions of thought Jasper had not considered before--if only due to his background. Warren, he found, was very much a man who thought of the plight of those Jasper had not considered, arguing for their betterment seemed just the sort of a thing a man like Warren might do.

He was so distracted by the wealth of information Warren was giving him just through small snippets of conversation that he found he was quite disappointed to discover they’d arrived. The rest of his afternoon was spent with Mr. Harring and when he was home again, he discovered that he had arrived before Warren and that there was a small parchment note on the platter by the door with Warren’s name on it.

_But that is Ben’s writing. I’d know it anywhere._

He picked it up and put it to his nose, pulling in the mild scent of his former lover and smiling at the memory. He set it down again, intrigued, but not overly so. He knew they’d been in contact and Warren was almost certainly going to have to update him on the state of their marriage. Ben was the curious type, after all. He could not spent too much time thinking about it, for the butler arrived and gave him a simple bow before he announced that Jasper had a visitor waiting for him in the drawing room--one who apparently had not minded to linger.

“Lord Rogueford?” he asked the butler, regretting asking when he was met with a blank stare.

“No, Master Jasper--His Grace the Duke of Asterly.”

His heart was in his throat as he was gently coaxed down the hall toward the drawing room, his ears ringing as his anxiety mounted. His Alpha cousin was not a common visitor to his family and he could not fathom why in the world he would come to visit if it were not to discuss something of great import. After all, a _Duke_ did not visit a household like this without good reason to do so. He was holding his breath when he entered the drawing room and then, when the Duke turned about, he let it out in a whoosh.

It was not his cousin. The Duke who turned about from the window to smile at him was the short and lightly freckled Omega mate who was looking very pleased for having waited long enough to see Jasper at last. His smile was arresting and his scent, mixed with that of his Alpha, was prominent and attractive. “Good evening, Mr. Oakley. I apologize for the surprise nature of my visit, but your arrival in town was sudden and thus so was my decision to see you.” He sat in one of the wing-backed chairs and watched the boy as he sat. “I trust that your trip to the country was pleasant.”

“I-it was.”

“Very good.”

His mind was still buzzing and he had to remind himself of his duties as host. “A drink, Your Grace?”

“Bourbon, if you have any.”

He got up, his hands trembling as he came to the cupboard and rooted around until he could find the proper decanter, pulling off the lid and sniffing it before he winced at the scent.

“That’s the one,” the Duke told him lightly.

He poured it--and probably too much--and then handed it off to the Omega who smirked appreciatively at the amount before he sipped it easily. He poured himself a sherry and settled back onto the settee he’d chosen, trying not to let his heart hammer through his chest. “What gives me the pleasure, Sir?”

Asterly’s smile crinkled at the corners of his eyes and formed a line beneath them that was disarming. “Oh? It is only that I am curious as to your return. I would have thought that perhaps you might have wished to stay in the country. News does manage to travel further than one might think in a short enough time. You are expecting, are you not?”

“Expecting? Expecting what?”

The Omega stared at him blankly, his soft little cat smile frozen in his features.

“Oh.”

Asterly tilted his head slightly, his smile a tad wider.

“Yes. Oh yes. I am. But Warren has let me work with his solicitor, Mr. Harring, and he thought I might want to come to London and see if I cannot pick up a little bit more knowledge from him so that I might be helpful. I do like having something to do and he thought that it might not be very difficult for me and truly it isn’t…” He realized that he was blathering on and so he pressed his lips together tight, his palms itching with his sweat.

The Duke sipped at his bourbon and not even a twitch occured on his face which was a marvel, Jasper thought, as the liquor’s odor alone could make him wince. “So I take it from your motivations, and your more open communication with your mate, that you are not inclined to resume your affair?”

Jasper had been in the middle of taking a sip of his sherry and choked on it, the liquid spurting out his nose in a stinging spray. He set it down awkwardly and felt the Duke come to the settee, kind hands out to aid him with a kerchief at his face. It was sweet-smelling and the man wielded it with the grace of an experienced Oma.

“I’ve startled you, I apologize.”

Tears were leaking out of his eyes at the sensation in his nose and he reached up, taking the kerchief to mop up his face. “I...I h-hadn’t realized that anyone was...interested…”

“Well, as it stands, there are plenty of meddling folk about in the ton this year who are keen to know where their little darlings are going to end up and the most meddlesome of them all are very cleverly working out their plots. One of those plots has little to do with you, admittedly, but hinges on the uhm…” He weighed his words. “... _availability_ of his Lordship. Of course, the matter is two-fold. Your mother did--”

“My _mother?_ ”

He grinned. “Yes. She was concerned that you might irreparably damage your relationship with your mate...I can see that’s not occurred and that she needn’t be worried.”

Jasper was staring at him openly. “Do not tell me she came to you…”

“She did...though not to me…rather your cousin.”

His hands came to his face in horror. “No…”

The Omega was still grinning. “Your horror is overstated, I do not think your cousin could ever pass judgement over you. Though a Duke, he was a notorious rake in his youth and it is only clear through your blood that the art of seduction is inherent. He would never begrudge you your dalliances. It is only that your dalliance has caused your mother some concern. Your family did gain much from the connection to your husband and there were some things that were understood...such as the legitimacy of your pups.”

If he could have hidden beneath the settee he would have. “Pardon,” he swallowed, “I am not used to such bluntness.”

“No? I thought I’d judged your Alpha to be a rather blunt fellow.” He took a decent gulp of his bourbon, nonchalant still. “No one has ever accused me of dithering over how to say something. So, that said, are you? Continuing with Lord Rogueford?” His stare was pointed this time, this gray eyes gaining a serious glint.

“No!” he nearly cried out, putting out his hands before him and then setting them into his lap. The Omega Duke was still next to him, close and sweet and comforting. “No. I’ve grown…” His cheeks flushed and he felt warm. “I’ve grown very fond of my Alpha…”

Asterly’s smile was infectious, bright and lovely and giving and it made Jasper smile along with him. “I had my misgiving about your families forcing you, I’m glad to know that I was mistaken. I thought a love match would suit you much better.”

His face was still overly warm. “I had not known you even had me in mind, Your Grace.”

“Of course I did. A boy whose presentation so mirrored my own? You are a little younger, but it was certainly unexpected. I had thought of your future and your circumstances quite often. I should have come to you sooner and I regret that I hadn’t attended your wedding. Perhaps I might have done something to help…” He sighed.

Jasper reached out, uncertain until the Duke took his hand and held it pleasantly. “Think not about it, Your Grace. It is all well now. I...I love him. Though he does not know.”

The little Duke perked up at this news, his gray eyes sparkling. “You must tell him. Tonight, please tell me that you will.”

“I…”

“Telling someone that you love them is a matter of grave urgency. Take it from an Omega who knows, I have made the mistake of not telling one’s beloved of their feelings as soon as possible and believe me, little one, you are not prepared for the sort of strife that error can bring.”

Jasper could not reply, for as soon as he opened his mouth to do so, the butler arrived and announced that Warren had returned, the big Alpha appearing in the doorway with a long thin wooden box in his hand. His expression was difficult to read for anyone who did not know of his very miniscule tells but for Jasper, he could see immediately that the man was very uncertain and even sheepish in his approach.

The Alpha gave a deep bow toward the both of them. “I apologize for butting in, Your Grace. I had not meant to interrupt.”

“Oh no, you are well within your rights. The hour is getting late, as it is. I should hurry home. My mate surely will wonder where I have been. Both of you should not hesitate to call if you need anything. His Grace and I would be more than happy to accomodate.” He got up, giving a little bow toward the both of them before he turned to Jasper once more. “Remember what I told you. Tonight, little one.”

He glanced toward Warren, his cheeks ablaze before he found himself again looking at the Omega’s charming smile. “Uh...Of course, sir.”

Asterly nodded once more with his grin and then departed, leaving the both of them in the warm drawing room together, the sweetened fir and pine aroma of His Grace and his mate still lingering behind him.

Warren looked at him. “That was…”

“The Duke,” he breathed.

“Right. Anything I should know?”

Jasper’s heart squeezed suddenly and he gulped a bit before he stared up at the Alpha. “Uhm...perhaps. But nothing...of great import. What have you there?”

“This? Oh...I...well it’s for you. But I thought I might gift it to you tonight when we are...together.”

Jasper swallowed thickly. “Ah. Alright. Well I...think we ought to take our supper in our room tonight, Alpha.”

“Is that so?” There was a note of something hopeful in his tone and his scent and Jasper was sure to capitalize on it, his confidence which had flagged at the Duke’s arrival beginning to strengthen again.

“I saw that Ben wrote you.”

“Yes. He was curious at our return and he wondered…” The Alpha’s brows almost imperceptibly twitched inward.

“Do not encourage him,” Jasper smiled. “He will always wonder.”

At that, Warren’s lips curved at the sides just a small bit and Jasper’s heart fluttered hard. 

They made their way up to the Alpha’s bedroom and Jasper got himself comfortable, stripping off his clothes until he was in absolutely nothing at all--a state he was used to now that his nightclothes seemed to offend his sensitive skin. He fussed with the nest until he was just about certain that it was perfect and then he settled into it, burying himself in the blankets as their supper was delivered and Warren disrobed as well. Jasper watched him as he sought to put on his nightclothes and when he picked them up, the Omega whined softly.

“Jasper?”

“You should not put them on. I do not want them to touch me.”

Warren’s smile widened and he gave a little chuckle. “Ah...linen is not good enough for my little mate. It must be silks...and if one were to place a pea beneath the mattress…”

“Do not tease me.”

“I should love to tease you. And I will not place a pea beneath your mattress…” He was naked then, lifting the silvered covers to the dishes before he placed them back on and looked toward Jasper again. “Perhaps I will place something else in your bed.”

“Yourself, I hope,” he replied, unable to believe how saucy he’d become.

Warren lifted up the long wooden box he’d set on the side table and opened it. “Perhaps I will place these...on _you._ ” He picked out a long string of pearls which gleamed with their pearlescence in the dying light of day.

Jasper squealed, his heart pounding hard as he hid his head under the sheets and the counterpane and he sought to burrow under the pillows.

“Oh? Are you to be so coy with me?” Warren laughed, his weight on the mattress before Jasper felt his strong arms find him through the blankets and handle him to pull at him until he was revealed. “Should you not like to be tangled up in pearls and kissed senseless?”

He nearly shrieked with his laughter when the Alpha playfully nipped at his ears and throat, growling in his throat and placing his weight down over him to keep him in his bed. When, finally, they were beneath the blankets together and Jasper had laughed all he could, he found Warren to be smiling wide, his face so filled with happiness that the Omega thought he could simply weep with how handsome he found him. An Alpha had never looked at him like this. In fact--no one ever had. The joy and adoration he found within his Alpha’s gaze was like nothing he had ever witnessed before and he simply stared upward while Warren reached down and dressed him with those pearls, looping them around his neck a few times before he let the rest of them settle between his small, swollen breasts.

He trilled a bit from the back of his throat when Warren swooped down over him and kissed him, capturing him completely with his lips and toying with him until nearly all his blood was rushing down between his legs and his backside was wet with slick. His flesh tingled, his breasts ached, and he unconsciously opened his thighs so that he could cradle his mate between them, his little cock stiff and wanting. When Warren’s hand came to him, however, he reached up, his palms flat against Warren’s chest and pressing until he could speak.

“ _Wait...wait…_ ”

“What is it, Jasper?”

“I...I promised something to His Grace. That I would not delay in telling you…”

Warren nuzzled his nose and kissed at his cheek until Jasper pressed at him again to meet his gaze, his eyes shining and wide. “What? What could be so important that you would have to promise a Duke? What could stop you from taking all my affections right now?” His fingers toyed with the pearls on Jasper’s chest, careful not to brush his tender nipples.

He felt a spring of tears come to his eyes and for a moment he couldn’t speak, his tears spilling and being caught by a gentle thumb against his cheek. “ _I...I…_ ” His lips trembled and he slid his hands from Warren’s chest to his shoulder and his neck, feeling his warmth and vitality. _“Warren...I love you._ ”

There was a pause that was filled with a breathless silence before Warren leaned down again and this time took Jasper’s lips as though it were an act of worship, his kiss his sacrifice. Against his mouth, the Alpha whispered. “ _Today is someday...and I have loved you for many somedays before now. I love you, Jasper. Ardently...with passion...from the hushed and solemn chambers of my heart. I love you._ ”

He buried one hand in his Alpha’s hair and kissed him again, letting sobs wrack him in the midst before he gasped, startled at the press of Warren’s thick, full member at his backside. “ _Warren!_ ”

The Alpha was grinning, a low chuckle emanating from him as he looked down at himself. “Do not ask me to explain--I cannot. Your words have touched me...in my heart and in my...well…”

“I would not ask you to take the time for it would be waste. You must...you _must! With that! With me!_ ”

Warren was laughing again, dominating him with his kiss once more as he reached down between them and steadied himself, guiding until he could press and penetrate, the breach drawing a great sigh from the Omega beneath. In being filled, there was a euphoria with every inch which sank inside him. It was not that he needed sating--it was not his instinct. His urge was based entirely on want and passion and fervor that was borne of love. He groaned and whimpered, throwing his head back to expose his throat, arching his back as the pearls slithered from his chest around his shoulders and into the dark silk of the sheets at his neck. He grasped at his lover--his mate--and then at the pillows above his head, his gasping cries louder still until the man was buried to the hilt within him, pulsing and huge and impaling.

“ _Warren!_ ” he cried, every part of his mind acutely aware of the pleasure of being held by _his Alpha._ “ _Please...uhn!_ ”

He was heeded in the first slow and gentle motions from above. The grind of Warren’s hips which gained in speed until Jasper was bouncing back and forth, the pearls around him giving out soft clicks as they rubbed against each other. Each thrust brought about a greater fervor, a refinement of their mutual ardor. Warren was above him, sweat forming on his brow and his chest, his breaths desperate pulls and huffs while he worked tirelessly, jostling the Omega beneath him into sharp, delighted shrieks. Only a few times did they have to take a short rest to breathe and to take stock of themselves before they began again, smiles and laughter between them until it was replaced by the striking Alpha groans and jubilant Omega squeals of pleasure.

At length, Jasper could bear no more and he let out a long, soulful cry as he convulsed with his climax, his toes curled and his legs clamped tight around Warren’s hips which still pounded into him, rutting him into the mattress until the squeeze was too tight and he, as well, lost himself to the blinding white of orgasm.

Collapsed and gasping, the Alpha gathered Jasper into his arms, kissing his cheeks and his hair sweetly and reverently, careful with him, touching him gently and grasping at the pearls around his neck to gather them and hold them and hear their decadent clicks.

For a long time they did not speak but merely touched and, for a while after that, they could only bring themselves to eat what they had been brought for supper, the food now cold but still delicious. When they were finished and settled, Jasper lay upon his mate, his head nestled in the nook of his shoulder and his mind racing with all the glimmering wonder of what they had just shared.

“Warren?” he asked, breaking the stark silence that had fallen over them.

“Yes, Jasper?”

“I think...I think I would not be so disappointed to find out that there might be a next time...this time…”

Warren’s smile was audible with a soft blow from his nose. “We shall see, I suppose...though perhaps each time, you will have to tell me that you love me.”

He grinned, nibbling a bit at Warren’s shoulder. “Oh...I think I will like doing that. Could I tell you so now?”

“Would you like another go?”

He grinned, fluttering his lashes against his mate’s flesh to tickle him. “ _I love you, Alpha…_ ” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my god, there's an Epilogue. I might post that later today.


	22. Chapter 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> CW: Lactation Kink.

Warren discovered, quite by surprise, that Jasper spoke a great many languages. In discovering this, he was pleased to travel all over with his mate by his side, acting not only as his interpreter but as his solicitor while Mr. Harring stayed behind in London. Jasper was very good at what he did and was, at all times, professional and courteous and everything a man could ever want in a partner--in a _mate_.

It was afforded to an Alpha blessed with confidence that others should make concessions when possible if only for the further convenience of said Alpha and Warren did take advantage of this when it regarded the presence of his mate in business. Unnerved by the presence of an Omega--and sometimes in fact by the presence of a darling infant pup--business associates and investors had an altered manner of speaking which was more hushed and conciliatory. This was to Warren’s advantage to be certain and he spent plenty of his time making sure to ask Jasper’s opinion if only to puzzle those he sought to puzzle.

Jasper, in coming to know the Alpha much better, seemed to blossom. Warren imagined that he was very much like how he had been before presenting. He seemed taller somehow, and far more refined. He held himself with a distinct poise even when he was wandering about their quarters with his shirt open for nursing, chatting with the Alpha very seriously about matters of construction, placement, and potential economic pitfalls. Shrewd, careful, and witty, Jasper was fully within his wheelhouse when it came to developing realistic goals and plans. He soaked up information quickly and could memorize a page simply by glancing over it once. This incredible ability never failed to impress and often saved Warren a lot of trouble when he could count on his husband to recall correspondences with perfect accuracy.

He had never been more in love, he thought. Not only was his Omega devilishly intelligent, he had found room to grow and bloom within his role and at once could be both the dutiful and loving Oma as well as the level-headed and dignified solicitor. After all the work he had done, however, Warren was ready to make him relax. He found, after allowing the Omega to work, that it was nearly impossible to get the boy to _stop working_.

Jasper was blindfolded. Warren had had a devil of a time keeping this secret from him and had very nearly had to kidnap him to make it a reality. Now that they were on their last stretch of the journey, he could barely contain his nervous excitement, his scent spiny with the sharp edges of his anticipation. He was holding their little pup--not quite a year in age--in his big hands, the tiny boy bubbling his saliva and quite enraptured by the designs upon the silver buttons of Warren’s coat. He babbled pleasantly, unbothered by the rattling of the coach around them.

“You really won’t tell me where I am?” Jasper asked, his hands in his lap and a sly smile on his lips.

“I won’t.”

“I thought you couldn’t lie to me. Keeping secrets is deception.”

“Then you will have to punish me, won’t you?”

He laughed, his smile wide and easy. “Oh I will punish you. Are we to see Nora? I remember her letter said that she would be returning soon and that she had so many things to tell us. Quite the tale, from what she suggests.”

Warren lifted the pup, kissing his little nose to distract him from the silver button he had pinched between his tiny thumb and forefinger. “The captain of the schooner she was sailing upon was a feisty girl, I hear,” he provided. “A Beta by the name of Bridget, is that right?”

The Omega shook his head and the side of his mouth tightened cynically. “Could you imagine if she fell in love with some girl wearing trousers? What would my mother think?”

Warren let go of a short laugh. “Come now, Jasper. How could you be surprised by your sister falling in love with a girl in trousers? She did love me, after all. I wear trousers, do I not?”

The Omega let out a little sniff of dismissal. “It would be very like her to fall in love with the man she was supposed to fall in love with and then, when that all went to hell, fall in love with some wind-blown miss who somehow captains racing boats.”

“I bet she has.”

“No.”

“I do,” Warren replied again, insistently. It was only too easy of him to imagine Nora galavanting across the world with some racy little Beta who carried a pistol at her hip and knew how to wield a rapier like some kind of pirate. “I will bet you five pounds that your sister is going to tell us that she’s found the girl of her dreams on that boat. She may or may not be the captain but I would put my money on it.”

“Hmm...the likelihood is good but I would rather wager on whether or not she can convince the girl to marry her. I say she cannot.”

“I say she can.”

“Five pounds then,” Jasper grinned, blindly putting out his hand toward Warren’s voice and shaking it professionally when it was taken.

“Ah, we’ve arrived. Now I’ll guide you with one hand and carry Duncan in the other, how’s that?”

“You will not, I’m taking off this ridiculous blindfold. I’ll not twist my ankle just for your childish notion that I will be surprised or shocked by where I’ve come.”

“No you won’t, and I know you won’t, for you’ve already humored me by coming this far.” He hopped out of the coach, easily maneuvered his son in one hand before he reached up to catch Jasper about his waist, hauling him down to the street. He led him inside the tall, magnificent hotel and brought him to the top floor--to a suite which boasted several rooms and a balcony which was where he brought Jasper first. “Alright, darling. You can take it off now.”

“Good. I hate all this, you kn--” Jasper fell silent at the sight of the soft orange early evening light shining over the glimmering Seine. He swallowed, placing his hand upon the marble balustrade, his mouth open as his eyes moved to take in the sight of the towering Notre-Dame. His scent shifted into a deeply sweet and natural fragrance which reminded him of soft mornings in silken sheets and the flutter of giving lips over tender flesh.

“Jas?”

“I…” He breathed, turning about to face Warren, a shimmer of moisture in his eyes. When they had first married, this was a common occurrence but now, as Jasper had grown into his role and his purpose, it was not something seen often and Warren’s heart squeezed.

“Jas, I didn’t mean to bring up anything painful…”

“It is not painful.” His next words came out as a sob. “ _It is lovely._ ” With that, the Omega came into the Alpha’s embrace, hugging him about the waist and squeezing tightly while Duncan peered at them both as though they’d gone utterly mad. “I cannot believe I did not think of this...I had nearly forgotten.”

“I had not…”

“Of course you hadn’t. You never forget anything.”

Warren scoffed. “You are the boy who can memorize whole books almost!”

Jasper squeezed him harder before he loosened to look upward toward Warren and toward Duncan who gave him a small wet smile. “You remember the important things, Alpha. I remember facts and language and useless nonsense for business and education...and you remember...me.”

“What do you mean?”

“When I was gone from you. In the country. There was everything around me to remind me of you. Fergus. Your mother. Your books, your house, your bedroom. I could not help but remember you. But you...you were in London with your whole house around you and nothing of me. But you sent me things...you sent me letters and companionship, and you traveled to _Ben_ of all people to ask him what I wanted…” He leaned and pressed his forehead against Warren’s chest. “You didn’t have to...you could have forgotten me.”

Warren lifted his chin with two fingers, drawing his eyes. “You sell yourself short. Even simply the memory of the way your scent clung to my pillows was enough to consume me.”

The Omega’s eyes once again filled with a glisten of moisture. “I could not be indifferent to you now, Alpha. I do not know if I could have been indifferent to you then. I cannot know the moment I fell in love with you.”

Warren stroked his cheek softly with his thumb. “Nor I you...but I do not think of it now. I only look toward the future now...for I have more promises to keep...and they will matter much longer.”

His husband took his hand, holding his large fingers gently in a soft grip. “Tell me what they are...I cannot remember forcing you to say anything more.”

He smiled down at his little mate slyly. “You do not remember them? It was one of the first times we spoke…”

“It...what?”

“If you do not recall...I believe I promised to love and cherish you...for the rest of my days.”

“Warren, you know--”

“I’d forgotten it almost as soon as I’d promised it. That is true enough. But as you said: I remember the important things. Isn’t that right?”

Jasper’s brows knitted even as his mouth tipped up into a smile. “Yes...that’s right.”

He eased Duncan between them, facing him toward Jasper while he held him in both hands. “Then I promise, again...for richer, for poorer, for better, for worse, in sickness and in health, to love and cherish you and all my little pups...for the rest of our lives.”

“Duncan already knows that,” Jasper replied, reaching out to take his son. “And he’s hungry. I can see it in how he’s furrowed his brow.”

Warren tilted his head, peering at the little boy curiously and unable to see whatever it was that Jasper saw. There were some mysteries that were simply always going to be between an Omega and their children. He moved to let Jasper back inside the suite and watched him sit, comfortable despite all their luggage coming up separately. He rid himself of his jacket and his waistcoat and opened the slit in his shirt for feeding, placing Duncan to his breast like he had a hundred times before. As though it were only natural for him despite all the conflict he’d had over becoming an Omega.

“Are you going to watch me the whole time?” Jasper asked him, not looking up at him but adjusting Duncan’s soft baby hair back from his face as he ate.

“I’m going to stand here and wonder if he might drink it all or if he might leave some for his father.”

Jasper pulled in a sharp breath through his nose, darting a glance toward him. “Are you going to pester me about it?”

“I do not know why you pretend you dislike it. You always get very excited when I do it.”

“It is meant for him.”

Warren smiled, knowing that the little one could talk himself in circles and still never believe what he said. It was a boon for him because once Duncan was finished and had nodded off into a deep sleep, Jasper put him into the cradle that had been brought up for them and then sat down in the same chair, expectantly looking up at Warren and looking not so very put upon. Of course when the Alpha came to him, he was not content to merely open up a small slit to feast and instead distracted the Omega with a tender kiss as he plucked apart the buttons of his shirt and bared his swollen little breasts.

The Omega liked to pretend that he was disinterested but it was apparent from the smell of him that he was very much aroused when Warren kissed down his throat and over his collarbone, nibbling until he could wrap his lips around one puffy pink nipple, a small mouthful of milk flooding his tongue when he sucked gently. Even just the slightest pressure could coax sweet, creamy milk out of him and Warren adored the way he could take it in small gulps, the act so intimate that he couldn’t help but grow hard.

“You are so shameless,” Jasper smiled, arching his back when the Alpha slipped his hand against his bare ribs.

“Mmm…”

“Warren?”

“Mmm?”

He filtered his fingers through Warren’s hair in silent encouragement to his suckling. “After you’ve had your fill, might you...suck me somewhere else?”

He backed off, licking away spare beads of cream from his husband’s small breast. “I would adore placing my mouth on any part of you, mate.” He placed his big hands upon Jasper’s thighs, opening them wide before he moved his mouth to the other breast, teasing milk from it while his fingers released Jasper’s arousal from its fabric prison, stroking its hot length teasingly. It was silly of the boy to play coy--he secretly loved Warren’s peculiar tastes as was clear from how stiff he’d become. He took just a few more sips before he slowly descended, still enjoying the aftertaste of sweet milk on his tongue as he kissed and rubbed over Jasper’s manhood with his lips.

“ _Warren…_ ” the Omega sighed, his hand in the Alpha’s hair still stroking and tugging to encourage while Jasper sat back and opened his legs further. He was a glutton for this sort of languid pleasure and it was so common now for them both to indulge that it seemed only natural to have him this way.

The musk of him was intoxicating and the heat was incredible when Warren finally sank down over him, pulling him in until the tip barely brushed the back of his throat. He was practiced at this by now and it was through constant instruction that he had arrived to a place where he could fully satisfy his patient lover. Jasper’s hands were both on his head when he bobbed up and down, sliding his tongue over the sensitive seam of him. He worked, giving out little grunts every so often to remind his little husband that he very much enjoyed pleasing him and having him in his mouth. Every sound he made seemed to force a twitch from Jasper’s cock and increase his arousal, filling the whole room with the sticky spice of it and driving Warren absolutely wild.

Finally, he couldn’t stand it any longer, and he got up, pressing his mate down over the davenport, divesting him of his trousers and underthings. “I have waited too long, Omega.” His voice was husky and thin. “I want to have you.”

“Mm,” Jasper grinned up at him while the man stripped him of his shoes and sock garters. “Shall I say the magic words?”

“The genie is already out of the bottle, darling, I need no more encouragement.”

“Don’t you?”

Warren let him have a kitten smile and an affectionate glance. “I suppose...it would not hurt to hear it again.”

“ _I love you._ ”

He chuckled, licking his fingers and rubbing against Jasper’s opening before he spit in his hand to coat his own cock, pressing at him to taunt. “What was that, darling? You’re so quiet.”

The frown that met him was laced with humor and there was a gentle kick to his buttocks on either side. “I love you, you big, ridiculous Alpha. Now take me. I’m getting hungry and you’d best not try me when I’m hungry.”

“Well, alright,” Warren smiled, leaning over him and catching his answering grin when he slowly sank inside. “I love you as well, my little mate.”

“Mmm,” he moaned. “Tell me again.”

“I love you.”

“Again.”

“ _I love you…_ ”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know quarantine and stress has been really doing a number on us these days but I hope my writing has provided a little a little bit of comfort to those stranded at home. This is the end of this story but no worries. If you know anything about me, you'll know I've already got another to start.
> 
> Now...can I be convinced to post the first chapter of that...today???


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